The Sustainability of Bison Production in North America: A Scoping Review

Simon Tielkes and Brianne A. Altmann
Additional contact information
Simon Tielkes: Department of Animal Sciences, University of Goettingen, 37077 Goettingen, Germany
Brianne A. Altmann: Department of Animal Sciences, University of Goettingen, 37077 Goettingen, Germany

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-13

Abstract: The American bison ( Bison bison ) is iconic of the Great Plains of North America, yet the genus has had to overcome near extinction in the recent past prior to being re-established for food production. This scoping review summarizes the literature on the Plains Bison as a large ruminant species adequate for modern-day meat production in order to evaluate the species’ appropriateness as a sustainable meat source and to identify knowledge gaps hindering the sustainability evaluation of bison production. To date, we can anecdotally assume that bison husbandry could contribute to sustainability based on its positive contribution to biodiversity, physiological robustness, economically higher price per kg, and nutritive values, despite their decreased growth and performance rates compared to beef cattle. However, targeted and system-based research is required in order to unequivocally assess the sustainability of bison production in North America.

Keywords: American buffalo; biodiversity; production performance; economic value; greenhouse gas emissions; life cycle assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/24/13527/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/24/13527/ (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:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:24:p:13527-:d:696873

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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