Decoupling livestock from land use through industrial feed production pathways
Open accessAbstract
One of the main challenges for the 21st century is to balance the increasing demand for high-quality proteins while mitigating environmental impacts. In particular, cropland-based production of protein-rich animal feed for livestock rearing results in large-scale agricultural land-expansion, nitrogen pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. Here we propose and analyze the long-term potential of alternative animal feed supply routes based on industrial production of microbial proteins (MP). Our analysis reveals that by 2050, MP can replace, depending on socio-economic development and MP production pathways, between 10-19% of conventional crop-based animal feed protein demand. As a result, global cropland area, global nitrogen losses from croplands and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions can be decreased by 6% (0-13%), 8% (-3-8%), and 7% (-6-9%), respectively. Interestingly, the technology to industrially produce MP at competitive costs is directly accessible for implementation and has the potential to cause a major structural change in the agro-food system.
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- Authors
- Pikaar, I., Matassa, S., Bodirsky, B. L., Weindl, I., Humpenöder, F., Rabaey, K., Boon, N., Bruschi, M., Yuan, Z., van Zanten, H., Herrero, M., Verstraete, W., & Popp, A.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (DE)
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU)
- Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University & Research, 6708 PB Wageningen, Netherlands
- Corresponding author
- Bodirsky, Benjamin L.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2018-06-20
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 7351-7359
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W2808916046
- Cited by
- 186
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 12.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.wur.nl
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Publication Database PIK (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Bundesministerium f?r Bildung und Forschung (FKZ 031B0170A)
- H2020 Societal Challenges (607492, 642147)
- Universiteit Gent (01 MRA 510 W)
- Australian Research Council (DP140104572)
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (689150)
- Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change
- Belmont Forum
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Insect Utilization and Effects
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Agricultural and Food Production Studies
- Keywords
- microbial protein, animal feed, animal husbandry, cropland expansion, nitrogen pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, land use, protein self-sufficiency
- MeSH terms
- Greenhouse Gases, Agriculture, Animals, Animal Feed, Industry, Livestock
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