Is there a future for livestock in a sustainable food system? Efficiency, sufficiency, and consistency strategies in the food-resource nexus

• For the future of livestock towards a sustainable food system, three pathways emerge: the efficiency pathway, the consistency pathway, and the sufficiency pathway. • The efficiency pathway, corresponding to the concept of sustainable intensification, is associated with various trade-offs, including increasing environmental impact and an increase in consumption through rebound effects. • The consistency pathway, encompassing circularity and grassland-based systems, show different contradiction to the efficiency pathways, but aligns with the sufficiency pathway. • The sufficiency pathway, mainly reflected by the concept of the protein transition, is associated with the fewest tradeoffs but rather offers synergies with health.