The James Hutton Institute
This page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
The James Hutton InstituteThis page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
Transcript of poster paper presented at 4th International Livestock Farming Systems Symposium, Denmark, August 1996.
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen. AB15 8QH. UK.
An EC Concerted Action is being funded from March 1996 for 3 years to develop a European network of researchers studying the role of livestock production systems in disadvantaged areas with the specific objectives of a) improving the integration of livestock systems research with research developments in agricultural policy and rural development, b) generating information on the economic outcomes of diversification and other options for livestock production systems and c) promoting information exchange and dissemination of research results. This will be achieved by establishing four sub-groups, organising two conferences and four workshops, conducting three feasibility studies and producing newsletters and a database of researchers in the area. The four sub-groups are on Livestock Production Systems, Rural Development and Agricultural Policy, Adding-Value to Livestock Products and Animal/Environment Interactions. The Conferences and Workshops are designed to be interdisciplinary, involving members of more than one sub-group. The Concerted Action is co-ordinated by Dr John Milne, who invites applications from researchers in the area to join the four sub-groups.
The priorities for future livestock research are constantly changing, particularly in the so-called disadvantaged areas, where agricultural productivity represents a decreasing proportion of total farm income. Subsidy, non-agricultural diversification, especially from tourism, value-adding processing, and environmental management are all assuming a greater significance in farm planning decisions. Support policies are likely to place increasing emphasis on extensification and management practices which will conserve and create wildlife habitats and maintain traditional landscapes.
Domestic livestock remain the cornerstone of agricultural activity throughout much of the disadvantaged areas of the EU. Livestock products are a vital component of rural incomes both as raw materials and as products after local value-adding processing. Livestock are also essential for the appropriate management of a wide range of rich habitats for wildlife. In a recent review (Bignall & McCracken, 1996), it was noted that of the 75 biotopes in Annex 1 of the EU Habitats and Species Directive which occur in the UK (i.e. those which warrant special conservation measures), 32 of these are managed farmland for low-intensity livestock production. It is essential that ways are found to safeguard the traditional management practices that maintain these biotopes whilst allowing a way of life which is socially and economically attractive to the farmer.
Future livestock research must adjust to take into account these fundamental changes in emphasis. This will require considerable development of interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration throughout Europe. Future research priorities for livestock systems in disadvantaged areas must rationalise the complex social, political, economic and environmental situations within which the systems will operate.
In March 1996, a new EC Concerted Action project was started which has the objective of (1) aiding the integration of livestock research with developments in agricultural and environmental policy and rural development, (2) generating information on the economic outcomes of livestock diversification, and (3) examining other options for livestock production systems and promote interdisciplinary exchange of information.
The LSIRDnetwork is structured round the four component research areas: livestock systems - agriculture/rural development policy - adding value to livestock products - and environmental management. Through the network activities, which include two plenary conferences, four targeted workshops and regular newsletters, the Network will foster closer interdisciplinary co-operation, and prepare publications that will help to focus research on the future needs of livestock farming in disadvantaged areas.
CAP reform has fundamentally changed the nature and scale of objectives for livestock farming in marginal areas. Livestock research scientists will examine the options for new systems that will not only maintain rural incomes and employment, but also maintain rich habitats, biodiversity and traditional landscapes. The group will identify key areas which will form the priorities for livestock research for the European disadvantaged regions.
Policy has a profound influence on the development of farming systems. Policy researchers and interested governmental bodies will assess the impact of current support and structural measures in disadvantaged areas, and whether these measures provide the right stimulus to innovation and enable livestock farming systems to adapt to meet the new objectives.
Significant improvements in farm incomes are being achieved by value-adding initiatives. Economists and rural development specialists will evaluate the opportunities for such enterprises, and co-ordinate research on the infrastructural, human capital and marketing arrangements necessary to encourage such initiatives to develop.
The disadvantaged regions have suffered widely from inappropriate intensification, ploughing of unproductive land, high stocking densities, at the expense of indigenous wildlife and vegetation, and increased pollution and land degradation. Scientists specialising in plant-animal interactions, and landscape ecology will explore new opportunities for synergy between environmental and agricultural activities.
The first action will be a plenary conference involving invited speakers from all the disciplines represented in the network. The conference, "Livestock systems in rural development in disadvantaged areas", will report on the current situation in a number of European areas, examine the constraints on livestock and explore how policy initiatives may facilitate the role of domestic livestock in supporting rural communities in disadvantaged areas. The conference will be held in Nafplio, Greece on 23rd - 25th January 1997.
On the basis of the agenda set out by the first conference a further series of workshops is planned that will examine some of the key areas in which interdisciplinary collaboration may be most needed. It is likely that the topics of the workshops will be:
Workshop 1: The integration of domestic livestock systems with new initiatives in rural development/ agricultural policy in the EU.
Workshop 2: Opportunities for and constraints on vertical integration in domestic livestock enterprises in disadvantaged regions
Workshop 3: Viable livestock systems for positive environmental management in disadvantaged regions
Workshop 4: Integrated economic development of rural communities engaged in livestock production
A final plenary conference in 1998 will pull together the results of the network and identify the key actions necessary as recommendations for livestock research and policy.
The Network will produce a twice yearly newsletter of technical articles covering all of the sub-groups, conference reports, news items, correspondence and information on new publications.
During the course of the project, a series of three feasibility studies will be undertaken to examine new ideas for livestock diversification. The studies will estimate profitability, and environmental and ethical consequences. The three enterprises that will be addressed will include an indigenous species (cashmere goats), an exotic species (ostriches) and a reintroduced species (elk).
This project will integrate, a number of components of domestic livestock systems research, rural development, marketing and environmental management, always previously studied in isolation, but which must be brought together to develop appropriate research to aid the development of EU policies for disadvantaged regions.
Bignall, E.M. & McCracken, D.I. , 1996. Low-intensity farming systems in the conservation of the countryside. Journal of Applied Ecology, 33, 413-424.
