Part 2: Regenerative Agriculture And The Net Present Value Of Sheep
“Feeding The World”
By Harry Carr
In part 1 of this article I attempted a thought experiment of calculating the economic and ecological value of sheep, both to the farmer and the world. I showed how regenerative grazing required very little outside energy inputs and had the positive effect of cycling carbon back into the soil. The sheep clipping the grass and adding their excrement improved the fertility and productive capacity of the land and its ability to feed our people. I left off with the question of “but can sheep feed the world”?
Sheep and cattle are extensive grazers. They require considerable land to make their protein when properly managed. If we just look at how to make protein and calories, meat is less land efficient than grains and pulse crops. Sheep and cattle are far less land efficient than chickens and pigs. So if we are interested in feeding the world, get rid of the less efficient producers, correct? This is a common view upheld in many analyst circles, however a key point is being missed. The ecological system services provided by extensive grazers, is critical to our environment. If we are going to plow grain into a cow in a feedlot for meat, yes, let’s stop doing that. This is not healthy for them and their grain-fed meat, and it is not healthy for us. It takes about three times the grain to make a pound of meat in a cow or sheep than it does a broiler chicken or a pig. So why are we doing this? The appropriate ecological role of extensive grazers (sheep and cows) is to help manage the carbon cycle of grass growth. Without them the land becomes stunted and withers.
Then there are confined animal feeding operations or CAFO’s. These industrial facilities are a great example of how our economic system hasn’t figured out how to value the externalities of ecological destruction and inhumane treatment of animals. They are a cheaper way to raise meat in our current economy. CAFO’s are built on the back of cheap oil, which results in cheap grain. The current method of raising cheap grain has resulted in the loss of half our topsoil. The fact that these facilities require constant antibiotic use, resulting in the antibiotic’s loss of efficacy for human use, is another huge negative. Few souls would wish to work in such a facility. We are in the process of waking up, and soon these facilities will become a thing of the past.
Just about all of us are in denial about climate change when it comes to how we live our lives. We want to change, but change comes hard. When I first encountered the concept of climate change, I bought it, hook, line, and sinker. Then I heard about how we are entering a period of cooling called the grand solar minimum. The climate will be cooling off rather than warming up. While this is correct, without anthropogenic effects, with our pumping of carbon out of the ground in the form of fossil fuels, and into the air, we are reversing this effect. Some things you just cannot argue with. Geologic studies correlate increasing CO2 with increasing temperature over the last 500 million years. Check out this great presentation by a geologist on this subject. Have you ever won an argument with a rock? We have already lost a third of our arable land in the last forty years when soil erosion, pollution, and desertification are considered. Sea level rise coupled with increasing population puts agriculture in the crosshairs. How will we feed the world?
Regenerative agriculture is the new buzzword. CAFO’s are degenerative, and soon will be history, so how can we feed ourselves? I would assume we will eat less meat and it will be more costly. If we move to a regenerative grazing model, over a confined animal feeding model, our health and relationship with the animals will improve, soil carbon sequestration will be enhanced, soil erosion and pollution from animals will be eliminated, and antibiotics will maintain their efficacy (rather the losing it to antibiotic resistant bacteria). We will still need to eat however.
In Illinois, we have an example. There are 27 million acres of farmland in this state and 23 million acres of that are corn and soybeans. One third of that acreage goes into ethanol production. One third goes into livestock feed, mostly to CAFO’s. Some of what is left goes into actual human food. So very little of some of the best farmland in the world is actually growing food for humans.
If we were to extensively graze sheep and cattle, rotate the pastured based production of hogs and poultry, and intensively raise vegetables enhanced with the fertility naturally provided by properly composted livestock manure, we could triple our value-added from our rich agricultural land. We would be improving biodiversity and ecological system services, not to mention retaining our topsoil and sequestering loads of carbon. Our grain crops could be raised organically through proper rotation, without the need for chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The land aesthetic would become charming instead of war zone looking. Turning Illinois into an exemplary regenerative agricultural state could have huge economic benefits. Rural areas would repopulate, as we would increase agricultural jobs tenfold. Just switching to an organic protocol would triple our value added alone. This is making the most of one of Illinois’ best assets, fabulous land for agriculture, and preserving it for future generations.
Consider the Netherlands for an example of what is possible. The Netherlands is the number 2 agricultural exporter in the world. They export 90 billion euros of agricultural products. The entire US is number one at $140 billion dollars of exports. The Netherlands has one-tenth the arable land of Illinois yet its exports are three times greater than the total value of what Illinois produces. Granted some this is remarketed product, and I’m sure they have their CAFO’s as well, but my mind was blown by the value of what they produce with so little land. Think of what is possible here in Illinois! Instead of attempting to tax our way out of our budget crises let’s produce value and earn our way out!