Integrating Crops and Livestock: A ‘Back to the Future' Concept.

Originally, human survival depended on hunting and gathering abilities to provide food, clothing, and shelter. While there is an underlying interdependence and interrelationship in all ecosystems, this approach represented two largely independent systems for obtaining life’s essential products. As wild animals became domesticated and plants became cultivated, this interdependence grew and evolved into systems that integrated crop and livestock production. As sophistication grew, national and global markets evolved, and specialization became possible, regional and individual opportunities could be optimized and monoculture systems evolved that captured economies of scale. Plant and animal production became again largely separated industries. With time, evidence mounted indicating that a monoculture approach could place stress on ecosystems and natural resources raising questions of sustainability. Nowhere is this more evident than the Texas High Plains where agriculture depends heavily on water from the Ogallala aquifer at non-sustainable rates of use. Cotton monocultures and cattle on feedyards account for 25 to 30 % of the nation’s production. Could a return to integrating crops and livestock address these concerns? From 1998 to 2008, productivity, profitability, and impact on resources of a cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) monoculture, and an integrated cotton-forage-beef cattle system were compared. Systems were field-scale and replicated 3 times in a randomized block design. The integrated system reduced irrigation use by 25%, nitrogen fertilizer by 35%, reduced soil erosion, used fewer pesticides, produced cattle, cotton, and grass seed, and was similar in profitability to the cotton monoculture. This long-term research has provided opportunities to study soil, plant, and animal interrelationships in-depth. Through lessons learned from a more integrated agriculture, solutions for a more sustainable agriculture and food security may be found for the future.