Grazed and Confused?

The Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) report “Grazed and Confused” published in 2017 aims to dissect claims made by different stakeholders in the debate on grazing systems and their greenhouse gas emissions. The report took a close look at cattle, grazing systems, greenhouse gas emissions, and soil carbon sequestration and aimed to answer the question if grazing livestock can help mitigate climate change and, if so, by how much. The report was co-authored by team members of the international consortium Delivering Food Security on Limited Land Pete Smith and Mario Herrero, as well as WFSC member Dr. Adrian Müller.

A new animated video “Grazed and Confused? How much can grazing livestock help to mitigate climate change?” visually illustrates some of the major questions and conclusions of the report.

As shown in the video, the report lead author Tara Garnett and co-authors concluded that sequestration of carbon could indeed be boosted by good grazing management and under specific local circumstances. However, this effect is limited in time, is reversible, and cannot counterbalance the global greenhouse gas emissions of all livestock. Thus, grazing systems, with all their potential benefits and services, are net contributors to climate change and their mitigation potential is limited.

For more on the FCRN report: external pagehttps://www.fcrn.org.uk/projects/grazed-and-confusedcall_made