In this guest post, Professor Harinder Makkar, of the Animal Production and Health Division of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) blogs about the innovative feeding methods that can reduce the environmental “hoofprint” of the livestock sector. Professor Makkar will be presenting at the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture, in Abu Dhabi on 16-17th February 2016.

Global meat consumption and the high emissions of greenhouse gases from the livestock sector have been grabbing headlines. Livestock account for approximately 14.5% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (7.1 Gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent per year). The production, processing and transport of feed accounts for about 45% of this. Livestock production is also land and water intensive – it occupies 30% of the world’s ice-free surface and consumes 8% of global human water use, mainly for the irrigation of feed crops. Continue reading →