Agro-zootecnia integrata e sua intensificazione sostenibile: ragioni di una apparente riscoperta

[Autom. eng. transl.] The objective of food safety, necessary for human health thanks to correct diets in terms of quantity and quality, implies the presence of food of animal origin (AOA), but cannot ignore the environmental impact of the latter; hence the One Health approach which integrates the health needs of the planet with that of animals (and plants), both of which are important for guaranteeing human health. To avoid misinterpretations, it is first of all necessary to correct some widespread information: - If the excesses of AOA increase the risks of degenerative diseases, the insufficiency is a sure cause of lesser physical-cognitive development; - Animals provide not only food, but also work, organic manure, textile fibers and hides, various economic-social services, but often produce by exploiting plants and water that cannot otherwise be used by humans; - The CO2 eq emissions of the livestock system, while not negligible, can be contained by improving its efficiency and - if well managed - this system increases the Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) with a reduction in emissions. It is also the cause of some forms of pollution (PM10, nitrates, etc.) which it is necessary to contain, but without forgetting that the increase in wild animals would create similar environmental problems; - The correct concerns of an ethical type (suffering and death) of farmed animals are by now adopted by those who practice rational breeding, also because they are useful to the breeders themselves. Since ancient times and starting from the "discovery" of agriculture, man has made use of animals - and plants - for different purposes and in different ways and, driven by demographic growth, has occupied ever greater areas, previously destined to forests and other natural ecosystems. Only in relatively recent times have the dimensions of this operation become worrying, but – since it is not a matter of futile interventions – the necessary slowdown or reversal can take place under two conditions: that the increase in productivity today permitted by scientific and technical knowledge makes it possible to obtain the same food on a smaller surface, moreover that the soils already occupied by man maintain their fertility intact over time. Naturally, there are also other conditions useful for the purpose (correct AOA consumption, reduce losses and waste, contain various causes of emissions, pollution, etc.); however, we would like to highlight that no sustainable agricultural system can exempt itself from the obligation to guarantee - together with agro-ecological sustainability - the economic, ethical-social and nutritional ones. To this end, with specific reference to animal production, there is the possibility of using (optimising them) mixed systems, which can be defined as "integrated agro-zootechnics", without ignoring completely extensive systems (with forms of pastoralism) and above all intensive ones . Regarding the former, we recall their merits (circular economy and conservation of soil fertility, premises for suitable food in terms of quantity and quality), which are expressed in their mutual utility for cultivation and breeding. These forms can still play a role in the PARs, at least in areas where grazing is still preferable for pedo-climatic reasons, or there is a desire to profit from certain peculiarities sought by consumers (organic or in any case greater "naturalness" and "healthiness" of the foods) . At the same time, they can also have great importance in the PBRs, where the indispensable rural development cannot do without interventions involving animals, both for what they already provide: food, work, manure, capital, etc., but above all for what they will have to avoid: the enormous environmental impact currently in place. All this is possible only with innovation that increases productivity-efficiency within a company