Applications are now open for the “Modelling, Measurement and Mitigation of the Environmental Impact of Livestock Production Systems” course being held in Zaragoza (Spain) from 12-16 December 2022. The closing date for applications is 23 October 2022.
Key reasons to attend this course:
- increase your understanding on how to estimate the environmental impact of different types of livestock farming systems and mitigation measures;
- know the sources and drivers controlling main emissions in livestock farming systems;
- improve skills on tools for modelling C, N and P emissions at farm/local/regional scale;
- learn different techniques to measure emissions in livestock farming systems;
- develop a critical perspective on mitigation strategies and their technical and economic feasibility.
- network with professionals from other countries and share knowledge on how to assess the environmental impact of different livestock production systems and strengthen cooperation to address current production and environmental issues.
Admission:
The course is designed for professionals with a university degree, and oriented towards public and private planners and decision-makers, technical advisors, livestock producers, environmentalists and R&D professionals involved in the management of the environmental consequences of livestock farming in a context of climate change.
- 20 places will be available for face-to-face participation (lectures, practical works and technical visits)
- 30 places will be available for on-line participation (lectures).
Scholarships:
Candidates from CIHEAM member countries, FAO member countries, and institutions of GRA member countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia may apply for scholarships covering registration fees. In some cases scholarships may cover the cost of travel and full board accommodation. If you wish to request a scholarship, please complete the relevant section when you make your online application to participate in the course.
Candidates from other countries who require financial support should apply directly to other national or international institutions.
For further information click HERE.
Closing Date: 7 October 2022
Location: Beltsville, Maryland, USA
Note: Applicants must be US Citizens or US Nationals
This position is located in the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Natural Resources and Sustainable Agricultural Systems Program in Beltsville, Maryland.
“In this position, you will lead national research efforts on agricultural soils and related systems and serve as a subject matter expert in all aspects of soils and soil management including soil ecology, soil biology and soil health.”
Duties
- Provides leadership of national programs in agricultural soils, including soil processes and microbiology.
- Supports national research programs in natural resources, sustainable agricultural systems, crop and animal production and protection, food safety and quality.
- Provides technical guidance in research project development by early involvement in research planning.
- Participates in the review of scientific manuscripts as a reviewer or designator of peer reviewer when problems arise, or strong differences of scientific opinion exist.
- Serves as a co-leader for national research on soil and air in agricultural systems.
- Leads and coordinates ARS research in the fields of soil ecology, including agricultural soil chemical, physical and biological “states” and processes.
- Leads and coordinates diverse teams of scientists to achieve stated goals.
- Evaluates the effectiveness and impact of major research programs and their constituent projects.
- Establishes and maintains communication with ARS research leaders and non-ARS research organizations in the field of expertise to assure that ARS research programs are kept up-to-date scientifically.
For further information about this position and how to apply click HERE
BURLINGTON, VT, USA, September 8, 2022 – A new assessment of over 60 scenarios based on current low-emission practices shows that realizing net-zero food systems will require widescale adoption of new technologies in the next two decades and changes in meat and dairy consumption. A more diverse set of practices and innovative research, including diet shifts and new-horizon technologies, will be needed for this transformation.
Food systems emit approximately 35% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As the global population is expected to grow to 9 billion by 2050, food demand will increase rapidly, and agriculture production must follow.
“Transforming food systems for net-zero is essential for the whole Paris Agreement equation to work and deliver on the need to limit the temperature increase to 1.5˚ C above pre-industrial levels by 2050, with important benefits for the resilience of millions of people around the world”
– Federico Bellone, Co-author,
UN High Level Climate Champions & Race to Zero
However, there are no silver bullet solutions that work across local, regional and global scales. Local and regional food system intensification must identify locally relevant strategies to meet socio-economic and environmental targets.
“While net-zero food systems are achievable, bolder implementation of more efficient production practices is fundamental to meet both global food production and climate goals.”
– Ciniro Costa Jr., Lead Author,
Alliance of Bioversity International & International Tropical Research Center (CIAT)
To achieve net-zero, the global food system must implement cost-effective mitigation practices and technologies by 2030 and improve country governance and technical assistance by 2040. By 2050, implement innovative financial mechanisms and affordable technologies to achieve a net-zero emission global food system.
This roadmap presents milestones; we cannot wait to start changing consumption patterns and developing new technologies. We must start now.
Article: Roadmap for achieving net-zero emissions in global food systems by 2050
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18601-1
Contact: Ciniro Costa Jr. [[email protected]]
Closing Date: 17 September 2022
Location: The James Hutton Institute, Scotland
The James Hutton Institute are seeking a collaborative and motivated Mathematical Modeller, to join their Human & Ecological Modelling Group. You should have a Ph.D. in mathematical modelling/biogeochemical modelling with significant simulation modelling experience, facilitated by sound programming skills (e.g. Python, C, Matlab, R, etc.). You will work on a variety of major Scottish Government, NERC and Horizon Europe-funded research projects to understand how land management and climate change impact on carbon-rich landscapes and the contribution that land-based solutions may bring to the climate emergency.
Main Duties of Postholder:
The postholder will contribute to all aspects of the research cycle including research proposals, model development, analysis, and visualisation of model outputs, through to peer reviewed publications and approaches for knowledge exchange with non-academic audiences. Key activities include:
- Developing and running biogeochemical models, for a diverse range of applications in agriculture
- Data analysis, interpretation, and publication of model results
- Development of models and model protocols that align with Institute and funder open science initiatives
- To contribute to publication of research in highly ranked peer-reviewed journals
- To contribute to (inter)national funding proposals
- To collaborate with Hutton researchers on interdisciplinary research across multiple departments
For further information about the position, click HERE.
We are delighted to share the following links to recent publications from CLIFF-GRADS alumni. It is fantastic to see early career scientists building their capability, professional networks and extending their scientific expertise as a result of their overseas research stays.
Further publications which have resulted from the CLIFF-GRADS fellowships can be found here.
Tajamul Hussain, Pakistan: Project at Soil and Water Conservation Research Unit, USDA-ARS, USA
- Hussain T, Gollany HT, Hussain N, Ahmed M, Tahir M and Duangpan S (2022) Synchronizing nitrogen fertilization and planting date to improve resource use efficiency, productivity, and profitability of upland rice Front. Plant Sci. 13:895811. LINK
Sebastián Vangeli, Argentina: Project at Rothamsted Research and Bangor University, United Kingdom
- Vangeli S, Cardenas LM, Posse G, Chadwick DR, Krol DJ, Thorman RE, Lanigan GJ, Misselbrook TH. 2022. Revisiting sampling duration to estimate N2O emission factors for manure application and cattle excreta deposition for the UK and Ireland Journal of Environmental Management 322, 116037 LINK
Maria Eliza Turek, Brazil: Project at ISRIC, World Soil Information, Netherlands
- Turek ME, Poggio L, Batjes NH, André Armindod R, de Jong van Lier Q, de Sousa L, Heuvelink GBM 2022. Global mapping of volumetric water retention at 100, 330 and 15 000 cm suction using the WoSIS database International Soil and Water Conservation Research In press LINK
Florencia Garcia, Argentina: Project at National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA), Chile
- Garcia F, Muñoz C, Martínez-Ferrerc J, Urrutia NL, Martínez ED, Saldivia M, Immig I, Kindermann M, Walker N, Ungerfeld EM. 2022. 3-Nitrooxypropanol substantially decreased enteric methane emissions of dairy cows fed true protein- or urea-containing diets Heliyon 8 (6), 2022, E09738 LINK
You can also check out a recent report from Funmilola Adebisi Oluwafemi’s (Nigeria) research stay in Hawassa University, Ethiopia relating to her project “Application of biochar and co-composted biochar from urban, agricultural and agro-industrial processing organic wastes: promising tool for climate smart agriculture” here.
The Livestock Research Group of the Global Research Alliance is delighted to present the next Livestock Research Group Annual Meeting! The agenda can be found below.
Registrations are open NOW! Please register by clicking HERE.
If you have any questions, please email [email protected].
Closing date: 2 September 2022
Location: NUIG / Teagasc, Ireland
A PhD Walsh Scholarship is currently available to work with the INTEGRITY project in Ireland.
Further information can be found in the document below:
Closing date: Screening of applications will start on 13 September 2022 and continue until the position is filled.
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) seeks to recruit a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher to join the environmental research team in the Sustainable Livestock Program. This is in light of increasing demands from CGIAR Initiatives LCSR and MITIGATE+ to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture, predominantly but not exclusively smallholder and pastoral livestock systems. The postdoc will work at the “Mazingira” Centre, ILRI’s state-of-the-art environmental research laboratory, (https://mazingira.ilri.org).
Click below for further details:
The August 2022 Animal Health Network (AHN) Newsletter is now available!
In this edition you can find information about the recent AHN workshop, a COST proposal that the Network is putting together, two recent publications and more!
You can read the newsletter HERE or via the link below.
Closing Date: 19 September 2022
The Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University, Denmark, is offering a postdoctoral position in environmental controls of nitrous oxide emissions, starting 01-01-2023 or as soon as possible thereafter. The position will be available for a 2-year period.
This postdoc will investigate mechanisms behind nitrous oxide emissions in typical cropping systems, but with a main focus on controlled experiments with or without plants. Participation in on-going field studies may also be required. The work will involve isotopes to investigate sources and pathways as influenced by soil characteristics and distribution of reactive C and N. This postdoc will be part of a research environment with a broad focus on measurement and modelling of C and N turnover and crop growth in agroecosystems, and on mitigation of environmental impacts. Results are actively used in policy development.
For further information about the postdoc position and how to apply click HERE.
The 2022 meeting of the GRA Paddy Rice Research Group’s (PRRG) Americas sub-Group was held in Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA from 12-14 July 2022.
The meeting was attended by 80 participants (in-person and virtually), representing 15 GRA member countries. The meeting report and selected presentations are now available for download HERE.
Location: Washington, DC, USA
The World Resources Institute (WRI) is currently seeking a Manager, Agricultural Methane.
Job Summary: Methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, traditionally has been overlooked. But that is changing. At COP26 in Glasgow, the United States and the European Union launched the “Global Methane Pledge” to cut methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030 relative to 2020 levels. While this is a very positive development, much of the attention to date has focused on achieving methane reductions in the oil and gas sector. Considerably less attention has been given to methane reductions from the agricultural sector. Yet agricultural production (e.g., cattle, dairy, rice) accounts for ~46% of global anthropogenic methane emissions, and emissions from organic material in landfills (much of which is food waste) contributes another 18%. WRI seek to change that lack of attention. Supporting those countries which made a Global Methane Pledge, WRI and partners will bridge solutions and policy to scale adoption of technologies and practices that would reduce methane from the food and agricultural system.
This position will lead WRI’s research efforts on agriculture methane reduction, providing the science and policy foundations for the four pillars of the WRI strategy.
For further information about the role and how to apply, click HERE.