Whole-System Approach Managing Grazing to Restore Soil Health and Farm Livelihoods
This paper is a literature review on the ecological impacts of grazing, and finds that where managed properly (employing a “whole-systems approach” and “adaptive, goal-directed grazing methods”) livestock are essential to ecosystem service sustainability and improvement. Soil organic matter increases were sufficient to yield a net sink of 2 tons of carbon per hectare per year.
Soil Carbon Sequestration in Grazing Lands: Societal Benefits and Policy Implications
This paper from 2010 is a compilation of previous studies on grazing lands and carbon drawdown which themselves date from the 1990s. It shows that grazing lands/rangelands are major stores of terrestrial carbon, occupying approximately 3.6 billion hectares and accounting for about one-fourth of potential carbon (C) sequestration in world soils. Drawdown rates via grazing and on restored semi-arid savanna are reported to be as high as 2.75 tons per hectare per year.
GHG Mitigation Potential of Different Grazing Strategies in the United States Southern Great Plains
This paper demonstrates that enteric emissions (methane) from cows are not a climate impediment when the animals are managed in a way that builds soil, thus, capturing carbon. Specifically, using a life cycle assessment that weighs emissions against sequestration, it calculates a net drawdown of approximately 2 tons of carbon per hectare per year (0.8 tons per acre per year) after a conversion from heavy continuous to multi-paddock grazing.
Emerging land use practices rapidly increase soil organic matter
This paper studies three farms converted from cropland to management intensive grazing. “Farms accumulated C at 8.0 Mg ha−1 yr−1, increasing cation exchange and water holding capacity by 95% and 34%, respectively.”
Potential mitigation of midwest grass-finished beef production emissions with soil carbon sequestration in the United States of America
This partial life cycle assessment (LCA) compared two grazing management strategies: 1) a non-irrigated, lightly-stocked, high-density system (MOB) and 2) an irrigated, heavily-stocked, low-density system (IRG). Results indicated that when soil carbon sequestration (SCS) potential was included, each grazing strategy could be an overall sink, with the MOB system found to have greater SCS than the IRG system.
Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems
This paper does a greenhouse gas life cycle analysis (LCA) comparison of two grazing finishing systems in the Upper Midwest, USA: feedlot finishing and Holistic Planned Grazing, which the authors refer to as adaptive multipaddock (AMP). It finds that AMP finishing improved soil organic carbon by 3.5 tons per hectare per year. This resulted in a net negative footprint of 6.6 kg of carbon dioxide equivalence per kg of carcass-weight.
The Potential of Restorative Grazing to Mitigate Global Warming by Increasing Carbon Capture on Grasslands
This white paper reviews the literature on soil organic carbon losses and potential gains through regenerative management. It finds that most literature is limited to areas considered in “agriculture” and that rangelands may be largely under represented both in terms of of losses and drawdown potential. It argues that with regenerative rangeland practices, such as Holistic Planned Grazing, the total capture of atmospheric carbon may be much higher than previously considered. An upward estimate of 88 to 210 gigatons (billions of tons) of carbon (88-210 GtC) representing a total drawdown of 25 to 60 tons per hectare on 3500 million hectares of grasslands worldwide is postulated as achievable through proper rangeland/grassland management.
Tall Fescue Management in the Piedmont: Sequestration of Soil Organic Carbon and Total Nitrogen
Grazing is shown to be superior to haying for organic C and N sequestration. Sequestration rates of 1.51 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 and 0.126 Mg N ha−1 yr−1 were measured during managed grazing of tall fescue over a period of 8 years on land in the southeastern United States that had previously been degraded via haying.