Implications of Temperate Agroforestry on Sheep and Cattle Productivity, Environmental Impacts and Enterprise Economics. A Systematic Evidence Map

Abstract

The environmental impacts of ruminant livestock farming need to be mitigated to improve the sustainability of food production. These negative impacts have been compounded by the increased spatial and cultural separation of farming and forestry across multiple temperate landscapes and contexts over recent centuries, and could at least in part be alleviated by re-integration of livestock and trees via agroforestry systems. Such integration also has the potential to benefit the productivity and economics of livestock farming. However, the delivery of hoped-for benefits is highly likely to depend on context, which will necessitate the consideration of local synergies and trade-offs. Evaluating the extensive body of research on the synergies and trade-offs between agroforestry and environmental, productivity and economic indicators would provide a resource to support context-specific decision making by land managers. Here, we present a systematic evidence map of academic and grey literature to address the question “What are the impacts of temperate agroforestry systems on sheep and cattle productivity, environmental impacts and farm economic viability?”. We followed good practice guidance from the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence to find and select relevant studies to create an interactive systematic map. We identified 289 relevant studies from 22 countries across temperate regions of North and South America, Australasia and Europe. Our preliminary synthesis indicates that there is an emerging evidence base to demonstrate that temperate agroforestry can deliver environmental and economic benefits compared with pasture without trees. However, to date measures of livestock productivity (particularly weather-related mortality and heat- and cold-stress) have received insufficient attention in many temperate agroforestry systems. The evidence base assembled through this work provides a freely accessible resource applicable across temperate regions to support context-specific decision making.