Project: Steering Animal Production Systems towards Sustainable Future

Acronym AnimalFuture (Reference Number: 124)
Duration 01/06/2017 - 31/05/2020
Project Topic Animal-Future will design strategies for assessing and enhancing the sustainability of animal production systems (APS). Main objectives are (i) Assess the multi-dimensional consequences of innovations on benefits (cash flow, income, jobs, product quality and safety, ecosystem services etc.) and costs (use of scarce natural resources, health and welfare) of APS. (ii) Improve the capacity of European animal sector actors to facilitate sound changes based on a thorough understanding of mechanisms underlying trade-offs between benefits and costs. (iii) Provide guidance co-designed by scientists and animal production actors through which the latter can reinforce their innovation capacity. To achieve these, the project will (i) Develop a indicator-based decision support tool that will be used for assessing and benchmarking European APS according to benefits and costs induced by innovations (from farm to region, nation and EU27). (ii) Bring together multi-disciplinary research teams and animal production actors (farmers, processors, breeders etc.) using a multi-actor approach and starting from a farm network of intensive/extensive APS across Europe. Relevance to research area includes (RA1) Developing and assessing innovations that move farm management closer to the production frontier, while considering fundamental trade-offs with respect to social and environmental dimensions. (RA2) Insights into how animal production sector (from the farm to EU scale) can increase the efficiency of feed utilization, recycle waste and exploit potentials to convert biomass resources not directly edible for humans into high-quality protein sources for human nutrition. (RA3) Transparent and comprehensive accounting for on-farm practices that makes explicit a whole set of benefits and costs, at farm and larger spatial scales, thus raising the awareness of animal sector actors, citizens and policy makers about the often-neglected benefits that animal systems provide to society.
Network SusAn
Call SusAn Call 2016

Project partner

Number Name Role Country
1 Institut de l'Elevage Partner France
2 Institut national de la recherche agronomique Coordinator France
3 BAYERISCHE LANDESANSTALT FUR LANDWIRTSCHAFT [Bavarian State Research Centre] Partner Germany
4 UNIVERSITAET KLAGENFURT Partner Austria
5 Scotland's Rural College Partner United Kingdom
6 Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento Partner Portugal
7 CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION Y TECNOLOGIA AGROALIMENTARIA DE ARAGON Partner Spain
8 WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY Partner Netherlands