Do Smallholder, Mixed Crop-Livestock Livelihoods Encourage Sustainable Agricultural Practices? A Meta-Analysis

Thomas K. Rudel, Oh-Jung Kwon, Birthe K. Paul, Maryline Boval, Idupulapati M. Rao, Diana Burbano, Megan McGroddy, Amy M. Lerner, Douglas White, Mario Cuchillo, Manuel Luna and Michael Peters
Additional contact information
Thomas K. Rudel: Departments of Human Ecology and Sociology, Rutgers University, 55 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
Oh-Jung Kwon: The Commission for SSK Multicultural Research, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea
Birthe K. Paul: Tropical Forages Program, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, AA 6713, Colombia
Maryline Boval: Livestock Research Program, INRA (L'Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique), Guadeloupe 97170, France
Idupulapati M. Rao: Tropical Forages Program, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, AA 6713, Colombia
Diana Burbano: Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada
Megan McGroddy: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
Amy M. Lerner: Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
Douglas White: Research for Development and Conservation, Burlington, VT 05401, USA
Mario Cuchillo: Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion, Tlalpan, DF 14080, Mexico
Manuel Luna: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agrícolas y Pecuarias, Tecoman 28930, Mexico
Michael Peters: Tropical Forages Program, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, AA 6713, Colombia

Land, 2016, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: As calls for bolstering ecosystem services from croplands have grown more insistent during the past two decades, the search for ways to foster these agriculture-sustaining services has become more urgent. In this context we examine by means of a meta-analysis the argument, proposed by Robert McC. Netting, that small-scale, mixed crop-livestock farming, a common livelihood among poor rural peoples, leads to environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. As predicted, mixed crop-livestock farms exhibit more sustainable practices, but, contrary to predictions, a small scale of operation does not predict sustainability. Many smallholders on mixed crop-livestock farms use sustainable practices, but other smallholders practice a degrading, input-scarce agriculture. Some large farm operators use soil-conserving, minimum-tillage techniques while other large operators ignore soil-conserving techniques and practice an industrialized, high chemical input agriculture. The strength and pervasiveness of the link in the data between mixed crop-livestock farming and sustainable agricultural practices argues for agricultural policies that promote mixed crop-livestock livelihoods.

Keywords: mixed crop-livestock farming; sustainable agriculture; conservation agriculture; smallholders; agro-ecology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/5/1/6/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/5/1/6/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:5:y:2016:i:1:p:6-:d:63695

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().