Decoupling Livestock from Land Use through Industrial Feed Production Pathways

One of the main challenges
for the 21st century is to balance the
increasing demand for high-quality proteins while mitigating environmental
impacts. In particular, cropland-based production of protein-rich
animal feed for livestock rearing results in large-scale agricultural
land-expansion, nitrogen pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Here we propose and analyze the long-term potential of alternative
animal feed supply routes based on industrial production of microbial
proteins (MP). Our analysis reveals that by 2050, MP can replace,
depending on socio-economic development and MP production pathways,
between 10–19% of conventional crop-based animal feed protein
demand. As a result, global cropland area, global nitrogen losses
from croplands and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions can be decreased
by 6% (0–13%), 8% (−3–8%), and 7% (−6–9%),
respectively. Interestingly, the technology to industrially produce
MP at competitive costs is directly accessible for implementation
and has the potential to cause a major structural change in the agro-food
system.