Fodder

Whoever likes to eat meat and drink milk needs animals. Thus, keeping animals in stalls and on pastures is common worldwide. For that, the cultivation of forage crops is necessary. These compete with food crops for arable land and potential utilizations. Hence, foreign imported manioc and soy end up in European pig troughs instead of cooking pots in the countries in which they were grown.

A typical fodder and pasture legume for beef is the perennial Centrosema pubescens. It is a fast growing groundcover and fixes nitrogen in palm, sisal and rubber plantations. It is relatively drought-tolerant, and often grows together with its relative Calopogoniumspecies or with meadow grasses. Mixed cultivations positively influence crop growth.

The by-products from the processing of many horticultural crops are likewise suitable for animal feed, for example the dried and ground residues from juicing pineapple (Ananas comosus) or the protein rich oil cakes from oil plants.