Interpretive Summary: Developing a new digital vision for rangeland grazing systems

By: Claire Morgan-Davies, Nicola Lambe, John P Holland, Ann McLaren, Davy McCracken

Implications

• Identifying appropriate digital technologies is crucial to help address rangeland agricultural challenges
• A rangeland farm hub can help highlight how best to integrate environmental management into rangeland livestock systems
• A rangeland farm hub allows the development of approaches and metrics to quantify the benefits of implementing agricultural and environmental solutions
• A digital vision may increase the socio-ecological viability of rangeland livestock systems and support their resilience to ongoing climate change

Introduction

Globally, rangeland grazing systems account for the majority of grazing lands (Reid et al., 2008) and more than half of the total land, with over 200 million people raising livestock in pastoral and agro-pastoral grazing systems. In Europe, a large proportion (59%) of these lands are classed as less favored areas (LFA—Article 2 of EU Council Directive No. 75/268/EEC) or areas of natural constraints [Article 32 of Regulation (EU) No. 1305/2013]. Although the primary function of many of these areas is to produce food and fiber, they are also rich in natural and semi-natural vegetation and support species and habitats, often with high conservation value, whose persistence is totally or partially dependent on the maintenance of specific low-intensity farming systems (Lomba et al., 2023). Moreover, across Europe, many rangeland areas are currently under pressure from biophysical and socio-economic factors, alongside broader political and cultural changes (Nori and Scoones, 2023).

Read the full article in Animal Frontiers.