FSE Visiting Fellow Henning Steinfeld studies ways to reduce environmental impacts of livestock production

As part of his field research, Steinfeld, joined by FSE director Roz Naylor, visited Niman Ranch, a sustainable beef operation in Marin to meet with founder Bill Niman.

Steinfeld, head of the livestock sector analysis and policy branch of FAO, joined the FSE team in June as FSE's new visiting scholar for the summer. He has been working on agricultural and livestock policy for the last 15 years, in particular focusing on environmental issues, poverty and public health protection. Prior to that, he has worked in agricultural development projects in different African countries.

While at Stanford Steinfeld is exploring technical and policy options suited to reduce the environmental impact of livestock and associated food chains, at global and regional levels. Livestock are the world's largest user of agricultural land, they play a large role in carbon, nitrogen and water cycles, and are a major determinant of biodiversity. Technical and policy options will be grouped into a small number of "scenarios" that feature different assumptions about production modes and levels of consumption.  His work aims at providing broad strategic options for policy makers to address livestock's environmental consequences, but within a context of growth and development.