54
The United Nations defines sustainable growth as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
No one understands this delicate balancing act better than farmers, ranchers, forest
managers, and fishers.
As they balance the demands of the present with the needs of the future, producers decide how much risk they are willing to take. They must consider the risk
management options available to them, as well as factors they cannot control like
weather, market prices, and economic or political uncertainty. While trade-offs are
inevitable, policies and investments that support agricultural productivity and
expand risk management capacity give producers the best chance to meet current
and future needs while increasing their adaptability and resilience.
The next section of the chapter outlines how farmers in Colombia, the United
States, Kenya, and India are adopting innovation to build productive sustainable
agriculture systems.
2.8.1 Making Colombia’s Beef More Sustainable
With abundant natural resources and increased political and economic stability in
many countries, the Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC) looks to agriculture as a key opportunity to feed its expanding middle class and become a breadbasket to the world. Agricultural productivity growth on the continent has skyrocketed
in recent decades, and the region is now beginning to shift toward lower-carbon,
environmentally friendly agriculture systems (Truitt Nakata and Zeigler 2014).
Despite this progress, difficult issues must be addressed. Conserving forests and
biodiversity while improving livestock productivity in Latin America will be key to
cultivating a successful sustainable agriculture system. While Latin America produces
more beef than any other region, emissions from beef production are the second highest in the world after South Asia. Nearly one-third of Latin America’s beef sector
emissions come from land-use change for pasture expansion (Gerber et al. 2013).
The problem is acute in Colombia, one of the world’s top cattle-producing countries with 23 million head of beef and dairy cattle. Cattle production uses 28% of
Colombia’s total land area (Nelson and Durschinger 2015), with 80% of all agricultural land in Colombia used for pasture.
2
Decades of civil conflict have exacerbated
forest and biodiversity loses, with some three million hectares (7.4 million acres) of
forest destroyed.
Colombia faces a challenge in helping its small- and medium-scale farmers shift
to sustainable lower-carbon cattle production systems that use less land, conserve
more forests, and provide higher incomes.
In the recent decade, many Colombian ranchers have begun to work with local
cattle trade associations and the national Colombian Cattle Ranching Association
2 Government of Colombia, Census of Agriculture (2014).
A. Steensland and M. Zeigler
The United Nations defines sustainable growth as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
No one understands this delicate balancing act better than farmers, ranchers, forest
managers, and fishers.
As they balance the demands of the present with the needs of the future, producers decide how much risk they are willing to take. They must consider the risk
management options available to them, as well as factors they cannot control like
weather, market prices, and economic or political uncertainty. While trade-offs are
inevitable, policies and investments that support agricultural productivity and
expand risk management capacity give producers the best chance to meet current
and future needs while increasing their adaptability and resilience.
The next section of the chapter outlines how farmers in Colombia, the United
States, Kenya, and India are adopting innovation to build productive sustainable
agriculture systems.
2.8.1 Making Colombia’s Beef More Sustainable
With abundant natural resources and increased political and economic stability in
many countries, the Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC) looks to agriculture as a key opportunity to feed its expanding middle class and become a breadbasket to the world. Agricultural productivity growth on the continent has skyrocketed
in recent decades, and the region is now beginning to shift toward lower-carbon,
environmentally friendly agriculture systems (Truitt Nakata and Zeigler 2014).
Despite this progress, difficult issues must be addressed. Conserving forests and
biodiversity while improving livestock productivity in Latin America will be key to
cultivating a successful sustainable agriculture system. While Latin America produces
more beef than any other region, emissions from beef production are the second highest in the world after South Asia. Nearly one-third of Latin America’s beef sector
emissions come from land-use change for pasture expansion (Gerber et al. 2013).
The problem is acute in Colombia, one of the world’s top cattle-producing countries with 23 million head of beef and dairy cattle. Cattle production uses 28% of
Colombia’s total land area (Nelson and Durschinger 2015), with 80% of all agricultural land in Colombia used for pasture.
2
Decades of civil conflict have exacerbated
forest and biodiversity loses, with some three million hectares (7.4 million acres) of
forest destroyed.
Colombia faces a challenge in helping its small- and medium-scale farmers shift
to sustainable lower-carbon cattle production systems that use less land, conserve
more forests, and provide higher incomes.
In the recent decade, many Colombian ranchers have begun to work with local
cattle trade associations and the national Colombian Cattle Ranching Association
2 Government of Colombia, Census of Agriculture (2014).
A. Steensland and M. Zeigler