Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will comprise a selection of papers addressing the importance of grazing in a low-environmental-impact production system.

By 2050, the planet’s population is forecast to grow from the current 7 billion to more than 9 billion, while the amount of agricultural land is expected to shrink. Simply put, this means that we will need to produce more food with less resources in order to feed the world. For the livestock production to continue to be part of the solution, it must develop environmentally sound production systems.

Ruminants have the distinctive ability to transform non-edible biomasses into nourishing foods, and this is an aspect that should be exploited to face the world’s environmental, economic, and social challenges.

In the last several decades, many researches have emphasized the positive roles of grazing systems: they preserve plant and animal biodiversity, store huge amounts of organic carbon that would otherwise be dispersed in the atmosphere, contrast erosion, and save water. In addition, grazing systems furnish several ecosystem services that support the economy of rural communities, and provide high-quality foods. In contrast, other studies have highlighted that grassland-based systems are generally less productive than mixed systems. This means that we need innovative solutions to make grassland systems more efficient and productive to meet the growing demand for animal foods. Genetic selection or precision technologies could give new perspectives to combine productivity with the need to preserve the environment and contrast climate changes.

Still, there are several problems about the methods for estimating the actual contribution of grasslands in some environmental issues. The main problem is likely the role of grasslands in carbon sequestration, which is considered strategic for achieving the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

Dr. Giacomo Pirlo
Dr. Sara Carè
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• grazing grassland
• environmental management
• carbon sequestration
• ecosystem services
• sustainability
• carbon neutrality