Summary
This paper presents an integrated farm platform approach and metrics framework designed to assess and optimise temperate grazing-livestock systems by quantifying trade-offs between multiple environmental and production outcomes. Drawing on multidisciplinary expertise in soil science, animal production, and environmental assessment, the authors propose a structured methodology to support farmer decision-making and innovation evaluation. The work addresses a notable gap in available tools for holistic, evidence-based on-farm assessment of grazing systems performance.
UK applicability
Highly applicable to UK farming practice, as the framework was developed specifically for temperate grazing systems common throughout the United Kingdom. The metrics and methodology should be directly transferable to UK farm contexts for assessing sustainability and performance trade-offs in grassland-based livestock enterprises.
Key measures
Soil health indicators, nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, water quality, biodiversity, animal productivity, feed conversion efficiency, and economic performance metrics across grazing-livestock systems
Outcomes reported
The study developed and proposed a farm platform methodology and integrated metrics framework to quantify trade-offs between environmental outcomes (soil, water, greenhouse gas, biodiversity) and production performance in temperate grazing systems. The framework aims to support on-farm decision-making and innovation evaluation in pasture-based livestock farming.
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