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Does Mexico Have Enough Land to Fulfill Future Needs for the Consumption of Animal Products?

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  • Maria-Jose Ibarrola-Rivas

    (Departamento de Geografía Física, Instituto de Geografía, UNAM, Mexico City 04510, Mexico)

  • Sanderine Nonhebel

    (Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen (ESRIG), University of Groningen, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Land demand arising from the consumption of animal products is one of the greatest challenges for future sustainability. Developing countries are changing rapidly in both the consumption of animal products and the livestock production systems. Mexico is used as an example of a developing country. An approach is developed to identify the production variables that drive the Land Requirement for Animal Products (LRAP) for beef, milk, pork, chicken meat, and eggs. An average medium-scale farm of Mexico is described using farm-scale production data from the National Agricultural Survey of Mexico. The results show that the use of grassland outweighs the use of cropland for feed production, and the use of barn area is least. The production of beef protein requires more land than any other animal product because of its large demand for pasture land. The use of grassland represents 70% of the total demand for land for food by the Mexican population, and this is mainly for beef and milk consumption. Population growth and changes to a more affluent diet will result in a demand for more land for food; however, there will not be enough land if food is produced with present livestock production systems. It is necessary to implement strategies to reduce the use of land for food by focusing on both production and consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria-Jose Ibarrola-Rivas & Sanderine Nonhebel, 2019. "Does Mexico Have Enough Land to Fulfill Future Needs for the Consumption of Animal Products?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-21, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:9:y:2019:i:10:p:211-:d:270490
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. María José Ibarrola-Rivas & Sanderine Nonhebel, 2016. "Variations in the Use of Resources for Food: Land, Nitrogen Fertilizer and Food Nexus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Nijdam, Durk & Rood, Trudy & Westhoek, Henk, 2012. "The price of protein: Review of land use and carbon footprints from life cycle assessments of animal food products and their substitutes," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 760-770.
    3. Bosire, Caroline K. & Krol, Maarten S. & Mekonnen, Mesfin M. & Ogutu, Joseph O. & de Leeuw, Jan & Lannerstad, Mats & Hoekstra, Arjen Y., 2016. "Meat and milk production scenarios and the associated land footprint in Kenya," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 64-75.
    4. Wirsenius, Stefan & Azar, Christian & Berndes, Göran, 2010. "How much land is needed for global food production under scenarios of dietary changes and livestock productivity increases in 2030?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(9), pages 621-638, November.
    5. Janet Ranganathan & Daniel Vennard, 2016. "Shifting Diets for a Sustainable Food Future," Working Papers id:10890, eSocialSciences.
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