Uploaded June 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Industrial microbes could feed cattle, pigs and chicken with less damage to the environment: Deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, nitrogen pollution – today’s agricultural feed cultivation for cattle, pigs and chicken comes with tremendous impacts for the environment and climate. Cultivating feed in industrial facilities instead of on croplands might help to alleviate the critical implications in the agricultural food supply chain. Protein-rich microbes, produced in large-scale industrial facilities, are likely to increasingly replace traditional crop-based feed. A new study now published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology for the first time estimates the economic and environmental potential of feeding microbial protein to pigs, cattle and chicken on a global scale. The researchers find that by replacing only 2 percent of livestock feed by protein-rich microbes, more than 5 percent of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, global cropland area and global nitrogen losses could each be decreased. More information: pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/spacefood-for-cows-industrial-microbes-could-feed-cattle-pigs-and-chicken-with-less-damage-to-the-environment
Article: Ilje Pikaar, Silvio Matassa, Benjamin L. Bodirsky, Isabelle Weindl, Florian Humpenöder, Korneel Rabaey, Nico Boon, Michele Bruschi, Zhiguo Yuan, Hannah van Zanten, Mario Herrero, Willy Verstraete, Alexander Popp (2018): Decoupling Livestock from Land Use through Industrial Feed Production Pathways. Environmental Science and Technology [DOI:10.1021/acs.est.8b00216]
Industrial microbes could feed cattle, pigs and chicken with less damage to the environment: Deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, nitrogen pollution – today’s agricultural feed cultivation for cattle, pigs and chicken comes with tremendous impacts for the environment and climate. Cultivating feed in industrial facilities instead of on croplands might help to alleviate the critical implications in the agricultural food supply chain. Protein-rich microbes, produced in large-scale industrial facilities, are likely to increasingly replace traditional crop-based feed. A new study now published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology for the first time estimates the economic and environmental potential of feeding microbial protein to pigs, cattle and chicken on a global scale. The researchers find that by replacing only 2 percent of livestock feed by protein-rich microbes, more than 5 percent of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, global cropland area and global nitrogen losses could each be decreased. More information: pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/spacefood-for-cows-industrial-microbes-could-feed-cattle-pigs-and-chicken-with-less-damage-to-the-environment
Article: Ilje Pikaar, Silvio Matassa, Benjamin L. Bodirsky, Isabelle Weindl, Florian Humpenöder, Korneel Rabaey, Nico Boon, Michele Bruschi, Zhiguo Yuan, Hannah van Zanten, Mario Herrero, Willy Verstraete, Alexander Popp (2018): Decoupling Livestock from Land Use through Industrial Feed Production Pathways. Environmental Science and Technology [DOI:10.1021/acs.est.8b00216]
