Improving livestock feed baskets data for healthy and climate-friendly livestock

Photo by Irina Iacob on Unsplash.
LD4D members share innovative approaches for closing data gaps on what animals eat
by Gareth Salmon and Carlos Gonzalez Fischer
Though livestock provide nutrition for millions through milk, meat, eggs and other animal products, what they eat can have a big impact on food security and climate change. Typically, livestock consume a variety of feeds, including grains, grasses, crop by-products, and more. This mix of feeds, known as ‘feed baskets’, is crucial for the economic and environmental performance of livestock systems but data on them is limited globally.
This includes data on what and how much livestock eat, the nutritional qualities of feed, and its availability and seasonality. This data is important because it can provide meaningful insights that advance climate action, improve farmer incomes, and plan future feed resources.
At the Livestock Data for Decisions (LD4D) Annual Meeting in December 2024, we invited some of our members to reflect on the challenges surrounding livestock feed baskets data and outline solutions that can address existing gaps.
The ideas they shared is an important first step towards a new collaborative initiative between LD4D and Cornell University, which will explore the current landscape of livestock feed basket data challenges, engage with different decision-makers and implement solutions toward accurate and accessible data.
The role of livestock feed baskets data in understanding emissions
Firstly, reliable data on livestock feed baskets is crucial to climate action because the composition of feed influences the direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock. Similarly, feed production and transportation create emissions. Without this data, countries are unable to accurately quantify the GHG emissions associated with their livestock sectors across the full value chain or to take subsequent action for mitigation.
As Mazganga Suzanna Mhone of the Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development in Malawi shared:
“When we wanted to develop the Tier 2 inventory for GHG emissions, we faced data challenges on feed availability, seasonal feed variations, quality of feed composition and proportion of feed stuff in livestock diets. Good data on what animals are fed can help us better understand associated GHG emissions.”
Giuseppe Tempio of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) highlighted that scaling mechanisms such as the Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM) can aid in synthesising data on local and seasonal diets to better calculate the climate impact of feed baskets.
GLEAM quantifies the environmental effects of livestock at different stages of the supply chain which include feed production, processing and transport. This provides valuable insights to inform effective adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Feed Baskets in Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM)
An Notenbaert of the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT also shared tools that offer insights on feed baskets. These include Feedipidia and the tropical forages selection tool. Feedipidia, for example, is an open-access information system on animal feed resources that provides data on nearly 1400 livestock feeds from around the world.
Understanding feed and quantifying feed baskets
Contextualising livestock feed baskets data
While these measurement approaches are powerful, data gaps remain. As John Mutua of the University of Edinburgh shared, currently available data on feed baskets is often generalized and therefore not applicable across different tropical systems or seasons.
To address this challenge, he demonstrated an innovative approach from his research in Kenya. It focuses on deriving information on livestock diet composition using earth observation and contextual data sets such as land use proportion, crop distribution and growing seasons.
Quantifying ruminant livestock diets in data scarce tropical regions
Advancing climate action through accurate feed baskets data
Secondly, a lack of accurate and reliable feed basket data is also a barrier to countries accessing the climate finance they need to build resilience in the sector sustainably. Data that clearly outlines the impacts of livestock diets on GHG emissions can help countries quantify the opportunities and actions for reducing livestock sector emissions, a requirement when applying for climate finance. Public and private sector funders can help close the funding gap by supporting research networks that collect and preserve data on feed baskets globally.
For example, Dr Séga Ndao of the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre shared the Livestock Greenhouse Gas Inventory Programme. This research networkconducts consultations with stakeholders to coordinate data-sharing on feed baskets that can help establish databases for decision-makers on the impacts of feed on livestock emissions.
Digestible energy values of the feed basket
Improving feed quality for healthier livestock
Finally, in addition to climate action, feed basket data is crucial to farmer incomes. As Adegbola Tolulope Adesogan of the University of Florida outlined, in countries such as Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, limited access to high-quality feed constrains farmers’ productivity. This is in part because farmers have limited data on which feeds to use, and where to find the right feeds at the right price.
Measuring livestock feed balance, composition and emissions
By strengthening mechanisms to collect more extensive feed characterisation data, and translating this information in an accessible way, we can help improve the flow of high-quality feed to farmers globally. With high-quality feed, livestock keepers can raise healthier animals and generate higher incomes, ultimately increasing their livelihoods and growing local economies. Healthier animals are also likely to emit fewer greenhouse gases.
Next steps
As more innovative ways emerge to improve data collection and sharing on livestock feed baskets, we can gain a better understanding of the environmental impacts of livestock and advance climate action. Through the collaboration between LD4D and Cornell University, we aim to scope out critical data challenges, identify key decision-makers, and develop solutions that address their needs. This will be achieved through research and consultations with key stakeholders, laying the groundwork for meaningful collaboration and impact.
As a first step, the team at Cornell are embarking on a landscaping analysis, to map out who works with feed baskets data and for what. We look forward to sharing preliminary results with the LD4D network in April 2025!
Take part
Learn more about this working group and how you can contribute to improving livestock feed baskets data.
Feed Baskets Working Group
About the authors
By Gareth Salmon is a Senior Researcher at SEBI-Livestock and Carlos Gonzalez Fischer is a Research Associate at the Department of Global Development, Cornell University.