Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems for Soil and Nutrient Management

Integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) combine arable and grazing enterprises on the same land, either simultaneously or in rotation, to exploit synergies among soil, plant and animal components. By recycling crop residues and manure within the farm boundary, these systems enhance nutrient reuse, reduce reliance on synthetic fertilisers and promote soil health. Key benefits include improved soil structure, increased water-holding capacity and enhanced biological activity, leading to greater resilience to erosion and climatic extremes. Strategic grazing of cover crops can stimulate microbial communities, accelerate organic matter turnover and boost soil organic carbon storage at depth. ICLS also diversify income streams and spread economic risk, while delivering ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, greenhouse-gas mitigation and biodiversity support. Successful implementation requires careful matching of crops, forages and livestock species, attention to stocking rates and grazing management, and adaptation to local soil textures and climatic conditions.

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Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems for Soil and Nutrient Management publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in integrated crop-livestock systems for soil and nutrient management across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Integrated crop-livestock system: A farming approach that combines arable cropping and livestock grazing on the same land to optimise resource use and ecosystem services.

Soil organic carbon: The fraction of carbon in soil derived from decomposed plant and animal residues, critical for soil structure, fertility and water retention.

Microbial biomass carbon: The pool of carbon contained within the living component of soil microorganisms, a key indicator of soil biological activity.

No-tillage: A cultivation practice that avoids soil inversion, maintaining surface residue cover to protect against erosion and enhance soil structure.

Nutrient cycling: The movement and transformation of nutrients (such as nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon) within soil–plant–animal systems, underpinning fertility and productivity.

References

1. Long-term integrated crop-livestock grazing stimulates soil ecosystem carbon flux, increasing subsoil carbon storage in California perennial agroecosystems. Geoderma (2023).
2. Commercial integrated crop-livestock systems achieve comparable crop yields to specialized production systems: A meta-analysis. PLOS ONE (2020).
3. Facilitating Crop–Livestock Reintegration in the Northern Great Plains. Agronomy Journal (2019).