Animal Production Systems: Synthesis of Methods to Determine Triple Bottom Line Sustainability from Findings of Reductionist Research

<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:<br/> The current situation is that world livestock production is expected to double by 2050 as a result of increased demand for animal products and population increases. Available land, water, and energy resources are declining, putting more pressure on the environment. Public interest in livestock and poultry production including food safety, healthy foods, animal welfare, pharmaceutical free meats, organically raised, free range fed livestock, and environmental protection are increasing. Potential benefit of existing research has not been fully translated into stakeholder tools. Farm management, operation, and demographics of the agriculture sector are changing. Complexity of problems, emergence of international corporate/NGO standards and certifications, decline in research budgets, and shift towards integrated research priorities, and a wider
range of government and non-government funding sources have increased the importance of trans-disciplinary and non-traditional research teams. Our regional research group will work collaboratively to enhance understanding of interrelated natures of various components associated with animal production systems. This will be accomplished through use of a visual dialogue network that assembles membership quarterly throughout the project period and exposes project participants to work conducted by the membership as well as ideas and work from scientists that are not part of the formal membership as a way of establishing collaborative connections and catalyzing creative thought. We will also Design and find a host for a publicly accessible database for sharing peer-reviewed, published project data that facilitates integration of system components. Having a common method of collecting and
reporting data will allow broader use of collected data. Individuals within the group will discover, substantiate, and interpret the broader impacts of component-level modifications to animal-production systems. Basic research designed to address input/output relationships at each mode within the causal loop diagram will enhance understanding of the entire system and ultimately allow greater understanding of impacts of specific practices.
<p>APPROACH: <br/>Establish/strengthen communication network among researchers and stakeholders to include annual meetings, quarterly virtual meetings, shared data, and subcommittees Annual National or International Conference (Perhaps specialty conference of ASABE or a specialty session at an international meeting) Virtual quarterly meetings (management plan) - two presentations or virtual tours per meeting A collaborative network, or cooperative framework Refine models, verify system-level tools for holistic evaluation. Define functional units to measure animal agriculture sustainability. Refine and document existing conceptual framework for the animal agriculture sustainability model. Synthesize existing knowledge and list gaps. Populate conceptual framework (end year 2) Vertical, transverse, axial, temporal, other gaps. EES relationships and gaps Establish teams and
write cooperative proposals Write proposals within specific time frames to obtain funding for programming and synthesizing. Papers and Progress Reports Annual progress reports and developed for each experiment station involved in the multi-state research committee Papers are the normal outcome of research with well-defined and measurable objectives Develop educational materials for extension educators. Develop educational materials for stakeholders (industry, regulators, researchers, public). Evaluation Quarterly gap analysis Review of progress for SDC 354 annual meeting.</p>