Sustainable goat production—Some global perspectives
Introduction
Humankind is facing unprecedented turmoil and change as it seeks to survive and thrive at the start of the 21st century. The current spike in the prices of both food and oil is causing real hardship amongst the poor and a re-evaluation of the sustainability of high-consumption lifestyles amongst the rich. The people of the world are now inextricably linked through markets, culture, communication, security and climate in a way unheard before in the history of mankind. These global forces create challenges for us all including keepers of goats and those involved in supporting the goat sector.
This paper presents an overview of some of the key issues affecting the sustainability of goat production in the 21st century and beyond. Inevitably it is superficial and partial in its view. It has been informed by the authors’ own experience of working largely in the developing world, where most goats are kept and where sustainability can be a life and death issue.
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the natural environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the indefinite future. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Bruntland Commission, 1987).
The field of sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three constituent parts (Fig. 1): environmental, economic and socio-political sustainability.
Each of these categories should be broken down into several sub-categories. Environmental sustainability covers a huge range of concerns including—energy use, biodiversity and genetic conservation, soil and water management, air quality, human and animal health, etc.
Likewise, economic sustainability concerns long-term resource allocation, fair trade policies, access to markets, demand for products, credit, financing, etc. Social sustainability is possibly the most important of all and should encompass dimensions of culture, tradition, politics, skills, social institutions and civil society. In any discussion of sustainability it is important to clarify what is being sustained, for how long, for whose benefit and at what costs over what area and measured by what criteria (Pretty, 1995).
In truth, because sustainability is so multi-dimensional it is hard to be precise about what it is. To some it implies persistence and the capacity of something to continue for a long time. To others it implies resilience and the ability to bounce back after an external shock (Pretty, 1995). Others add the dimension of efficiently preventing wasteful use of resources (meadows and personal communication). Like beauty, the definition is in the eye of the beholder.
The concept of ‘sustainable agriculture’ is also fraught with difficulty in its definition and as a result means different things to different people. For some it is a proxy for a kind of strictly defined and regulated organic agriculture, for others it has quasi-religious connotations, while others take a more pragmatic approach to ways of keeping farming and the population of the world fed. After all, who would advocate for non-sustainable agriculture?
Regardless of the definition, any kind of sustainable agriculture has to integrate three main goals: some kind of environmental stewardship on and off the farm; farm profitability; and, prosperous farming communities. No farm is an island and the interconnectedness of the modern world means that farmers cannot operate in isolation; they must understand the external forces influencing their daily lives to be profitable. Many business leaders view the ability to respond to a constantly changing external environment and the ability to manage change as the keys to long-term business sustainability (Collins and Porras, 2002). This has to be the case for goat keepers too. Bearing in mind these sustainability characteristics, sustainable goat production could be defined as the ability to produce goats and goat products to meet the needs of mankind now and in the future.
Section snippets
Some global trends and forces of change
A number of significant global trends are likely to negatively or positively impact goat production systems in the future. These trends include global warming, the rising costs of non-renewable energy, rising cost of grain, dietary changes in human populations, human population growth, human aspirations, livestock population growth, and environmental degradation. How might these global trends affect the sustainability of goat production in the 21st century and beyond? What makes goats and the
Characteristics of goats systems and goat keepers
The management systems under which goats are kept can be described and classified in many ways depending on the purpose of classification. In the context of sustainability it is perhaps most relevant to use the degree of intensification of production and level of use of external inputs to classify systems.
In basic terms goat systems can simply be described as:
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Extensive/low-input: Goats graze freely with or without supervision on natural vegetation, typically in areas with relatively low
A goat sustainability scorecard
The sustainability of any goat system will depend on a huge range of factors. It is important for those supporting the goat sector to continually be aware of the range of factors that impinge on the sustainability of the system and counter negative trends wherever possible. A first attempt has been made to develop a generic scorecard to be used to assess the sustainability of goat systems. Sustainability includes environmental, economic, social, and institutional key characteristics.
Intensive dairy goats systems in Europe: St Helen's Farm, UK
Angus and Kathleen Wielkopolski have built-up a highly successful integrated dairy goat farm and milk processing business in the UK. They manage their own farm in Yorkshire milking 2500–3000 goats as well as buying milk from farms they have helped to set up. They process milk into pasteurised fresh milk, yoghurt, and butter cream as well as hard and soft cheeses. St Helen's is a well-known brand found in almost every supermarket in the country. The goats are housed and fed a well-balanced diet
Conclusions and a sustainability agenda
The multi-dimensional nature of the sustainability of goat production has been explored in very broad terms. Each factor identified will vary in importance from place to place. In most places goat keepers faces various threats to the continuity of their goat enterprises and their ability to respond and adapt to change. However new opportunities are emerging in nearly every system which goat farmers must find ways of exploiting. The growth in so-called ‘lifestyle’ markets, ethical, fair trade
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☆ This paper is part of the special issue entitled: Plenary papers of the 9th International Conference on Goats, Guest Edited by Jorge R. Kawas.