Can Regenerative Agriculture improve the health and welfare of livestock?

In the face of growing climate concerns and environmental degradation, the UK livestock industry is facing increasing scrutiny for both its ethical and environmental impacts. As food systems have become more industrialised globally there have been increasing concerns over the health and welfare of livestock as animals are often pushed to their physical and psychological limits in the name of efficiency and progress.

Living on a planet of finite resources with an expanding human population is a very real concern when it comes to food availability. Scaling-up production has been seen as the only viable solution to ensure the world does not go hungry. This, combined with the ready availability of ammonia-based fertilisers- a legacy of the post-world war munitions industry- alongside increased use of pesticides and fossil fuels has driven intensification worldwide. The world now produces more than enough food for its growing population but politics ensures it does not reach those that need it most. Intensification has also come at a huge environmental cost. In a conventional food system where land degradation, river contamination, poor air quality, nature depletion and a heavy reliance on fossil fuels and other chemical inputs are considered normal, it is unsurprising that farming, human health and the planet have reached a crisis point.

Regenerative agriculture offers an alternative solution. It aims to improve degraded soils, biodiversity and climate resilience by farming as close to nature as possible and to make farming businesses both more profitable and productive whilst reducing the need for external inputs. 

This study was undertaken to understand if regenerative agriculture can improve the health and welfare of livestock. 

As part of this project, I visited the USA where there are several ongoing long-term studies on regenerative agriculture. I also visited Australia where an increasingly hostile climate is forcing change to more resilient farming methods. I also travelled throughout the UK mainland to visit farmers who are adopting regenerative practices in different ways.

Although management of livestock is the most vital determinant of health and welfare within any farming system, animals that are walking a metabolic knife-edge due to high levels of production in intensive systems are more likely to require interventions. Understanding the root cause of disease can help producers to identify bottlenecks on their farms.  Focussing on positive health and welfare outcomes alongside levels of disease is imperative here, as are sound and ethical breeding decisions. Observation and an open mindset are key attributes of a good stockperson.

Landscape design is as fundamental to livestock welfare as housing design and long-term, sustainable farm planning for a changing climate is crucial to ensure that health and welfare remains a priority in regenerative systems where animals are used as a tool to improve soil health. 

Regenerative agriculture can not only improve livestock health and welfare - but it also has the potential to improve the health of entire ecosystems on a global scale. It is therefore, on the entire industry from policy to the supply chain to support a move to a more sustainable, regenerative future.