1. Livestock in the agrifood
systems transformation
FAO Global Conference on Sustainable Livestock Transformation:
Better production, better nutrition, better environment, better life
25 September 2023
Jimmy Smith
Director of International Programs in Agriculture & Natural Resources
University of Maryland, College Park

2. Part One
Three Caveats

3. We need to make better use of diversity
• Our reference to ‘livestock’ masks the fact
that several species and commodities
produced in several ecologies and
production systems is the reality --The
world’s livestock systems
are exceptionally diverse
• Every livestock species, system
and socioeconomic context
present very different challenges
and opportunities
for transformation
Thus
• There is no one
‘livestock transformation’
that we’re working towards
• Rather, we must move on
a broad front towards many
transformations

4. We need to make better use of systems thinking
• Replace disciplinary silos
with cross- and trans-
disciplinary thinking and work
• Tackle whole systems,
attending to interconnections,
trade-offs and synergies
Because
• With their manifold impacts,
livestock offer
‘multi-solving solutions’
• When it comes to livestock,
livestock systems thinking
is just smart thinking

5. We need to make better speed
• We have to work faster
as well as better
• Our past discrete successes
are not adding up to global
livestock transformation
Request
• Let each of us consider
what we need
to do differently in future
• And what we need
to prioritize . . .
• We should work and
communicate in a more
connected way

6. Part Two
Transforming
what we do

7. Better production
We need more livestock production
to meet global growing food
and nutritional needs
By 2050, food production will have
to double to feed 9.2 billion people,
with:
• 2.3 times more poultry meat
• 1.7 times more other meat, and
• 1.6 times more milk
than in 2010

8. Imagine that we can . . .
Meet the growing demand with fewer
ruminants
• Marry technological and policy
innovations to bring about highly
efficient and ecologically
sound livestock production
• Rapidly increase the productivity of
livestock in developing countries
• Introducing climate smart breeds and
feeds
• Reduce the endemic disease burden of
livestock
• Prevent zoonotic diseases
• Prove the predictions on AMR wrong

9. Better nutrition
Animal source foods contribute
between 30-40% of the world’s
protein on a per capita
basis…..most of it produced from
feed substrates that had no other
use.
• High concentration of
bioavailable nutrients
• Most important dietary source
of B12, bioavailable iron and
preferred vitamin A
• Proven contributions to brain,
muscle and skeletal
development
Why then do livestock get such a
bad name?

10. Imagine that we can . . .
Simultaneously address the
double burden of too little
consumption of milk, meat
and eggs by poorer people
and too much consumption
of them by richer people

11. Imagine that we can . . .
Lower the intolerably high
burden of foodborne diseases in lower
income countries, in particular

12. We can and must make animal source foods from informal markets
safer
--as this is the source of most of the food in developing countries--

13. Better environments
The issues include the carbon footprint of
livestock, land degradation, pollution and
nutrient loading, among others.
--but the effect on climate cuts both ways--
Increasing livestock production efficiencies will
support, but not be sufficient to mitigate the
effect on climate change. Much more is needed

14. In addition to vastly increasing productivity, imagine
that we can …….
• Spread worldwide regenerative practices that also increase the profitability
of (circular) mixed farming systems that feed soils as well as people and
animals
• Curtail air and water pollution, and nutrient loading generated by intensive
production systems while also enhancing animal welfare
• Restore vast grazing lands through use of low-cost participatory
(community-led) rangeland management that produces judicious grazing
and land use planning, captures more carbon, protects more biodiversity
and provides pastoralists with more resilience and prosperity

15. Better lives
The better lives we’re after include
not only the 1.7 billion people
whose livelihoods—as producers,
processors, transporters or
retailers—depend on livestock, and
not only the many more billions
who consume meat, milk and eggs,
but also the vegetarians and others
who do not consume livestock-
source foods, as well as the lives of
the animals that we raise to
nourish and sustain through their
foods and many inputs to
sustainable crop production

16. • Improve both animal and human welfare for better lives
• Use livestock in optimal ways to better lives everywhere and in manifold
ways
• Help families to grow their livestock assets in ways that generate lasting—
multi-generational—benefits
• Ensure that livestock value chains are inclusive and fair as well as efficient
and profitable
Imagine that we can . . .

17. Get to the next level on :
Empowering women and generating more youth employment

18. Getting to the next level: Liveable and habitable futures?

19. Recognizing the cultural value
and contributions

20. Part Three
Transforming
how we work

21. Animals for transformation
It is immutable that
food-producing animals
are or could be multi-
functioning, multi-
functional assets for
healthier livelihoods,
diets, environments and
people—all contributing
to sustainable food
systems transformation
through their essential
roles in the ‘four betters’

22. Wealth of opportunities
I hope the case is made that the
diversity matters
• livestock uses and benefits
• livestock species and systems
• livestock peoples and cultures
These provide us with a wealth
of avenues for engendering
the fairer, safer, healthier
and more prosperous world
that we all want

23. Some challenges—for each of us here today
To help effect these livestock transformations, each one of us is going to have to:
• Broaden our dialogues, connecting and delivering in ways we’ve never done before
• Engage more, and more effectively, with the non-livestock world
• Work across diverse livestock sectors and disciplines, and in both rich and poor
countries
• Reach consumers as well as producers, and address cultural as well as socioeconomic
issues

24. Getting out of our comfort zone
With livestock remaining
• the most neglected
• the most under-funded and
• the most misunderstood subsector
of agriculture today
and with the many ‘polycrises’ demanding the world’s attention,
livestock transformation is a tall order
What we aspirate to can and must be done ….but only if
we communicate more and better

25. Image credits
Slide 5: Farm manager by Equity UK
Slide 7: Brown Swiss cows by Don Shall
Slide 8: A fitbit for cows by Agri Expo Dot Online
Slide 14: Cow and sheep by Lollie-Pop
Slide 15: Togo family groceries by World Bank
Slide 16: Hmong grandmother and child
by Rod Waddington
Slide 17: Kenya dairy woman with her cow
by East African Dairy Development project
Slide 18: Cambodian farm couple
by WorldBank-Chhor Sokunthea
Slide 19: Farm girl with cow (photographer
unknown), Indian cook by Steve Evans
Slide 22: Cambodian man feeding livestock
improved forages by CIAT-NeilPalmer
Slide 23: Landsat satellite by NASA
Slide 24: Argentinan merino sheep
by IFPRI-Milo Mitchell
Slide 25: Tanzanian Maasai shop keeper
by UN-Women-DeepikaNath
All others from ILRI

26. Thank you
Contact
Jimmy Smith
jsmit122@umd.edu