Faculty from Penn State’s Departments of Animal Science, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Plant Sciences, and Agricultural Economics are developing the world’s first Dairy Production and Management MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). The course is designed to deliver fundamental knowledge and best practices related to sustainable dairy production systems in their broadest sense. Participants will gain a broad and comprehensive understanding of all aspects of dairy management including genetics, nutrition, reproduction, animal health, milk hygiene, farm economics, and sustainability of dairy production systems. There’s something in this course for everyone, whether you are just looking for the basics or have years of experience in the dairy industry. The course is launching March 7th, 2016. For more information and to register please visit the course’s website: https://www.coursera.org/
Download the latest version of the Livestock Research Group Newsletter
The December 2015 edition of the LRG newsletter is now available. The newsletter covers a recent livestock and greenhouse gas inventory workshop held in South-East Asia, includes an article from the CGIAR’s Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security programme sharing their views on the outcomes of the recent international climate change negotiations. Also covered are project summaries from research fellows from Uganda and Denmark.
The Newsletter also includes further details about the 8th LRG meeting to be held in Melbourne, Australia alongside the Greenhouse Gas and Animal Agriculture Conference in February 2016 – download the Newsletter for more information!
This week marks the ending of the 2016 Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris, France, where 195 countries made a legally binding agreement to keep a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius, and to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. See the agreement
Other outcomes of specific interest for the GRA include:
- The launch of the 4/1000 Initiative, which aims to increase carbon stocks in agricultural soils (notably grasslands and pastures) and forest soils by 4/1000 per year of the soil carbon stock to improve soil fertility and farm resilience. Get involved
- The Climate & Clean Air Coalition (CCAC)’s meeting, where it launched a 5-year scientifically-based policy strategy to substantially reduce emissions of black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone and HFCs. See more
- New Zealand’s announcement that it will invest an additional $20 million NZD towards the GRA over the next four years. See official media release
The Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases is pleased to announce some new partnerships.
The GRA welcomes the World Agricultural Forum (WAF) as a Partner. The GRA has previously been involved in WAF’s 2013 Congress in India. The GRA also welcomes as a Partner the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience (CABI), which has been involved in GRA Research Group meetings. We are looking forward to making the most of these partnerships.
The GRA has also invited to partner with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). The CACC has already collaborated with the GRA through the LRG’s Manure Management Research Network and through the PRRG / IRRI / CIAT methane emissions project.
For more information about these partners, please click on the links below.
The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has published a new analysis of what COP21 means for food and farming, and what the next steps should be between now and 2020 when the Paris Agreement comes into force.
The analysis picks up the theme that “Voluntary cooperation” between countries, including through technology transfer and capacity building, is a major focus that comes through in the Agreement as is the need for all countries to support science and research.
Read the CCAFS info note: The Paris Climate Agreement: what it means for food and farming http://bit.ly/1UpvXws.
And for more information on research highlights visit CCAFS website: Paris Climate Agreement unlocks opportunities for food and farming http://bit.ly/1NsY1u9.
Out Now – UK Agri-Science & Innovation Newsletter Issue 4, supporting international actions to mitigate agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.
The October 2015 newsletter covering UK activities to support the GRA covers the launch of the Global Research Alliance Modelling Platform (GRAMP) website, recent meeting of the Livestock Research Group Networks in the UK and the completion of a survey by GRA member countries regarding the use of earth observation to provide agricultural activity data for inventory compilation.
Previous issues of the newsletter and more information on UK GRA activities can be found on the UK country page.
Download the latest version of the Livestock Research Group Newsletter
The October 2015 edition of the LRG newsletter is now available. The newsletter includes an interview with the LRG Co-Chairs on the outcomes from the 2015 Council meeting in Des Moines, USA and how these decisions will support the LRG. Also covered are research updates from the Global Rumen Census project and the collaborative project ‘Reducing enteric methane for improving food security and livelihoods’.
The Livestock Research Group has developed a set of country case studies demonstrating on-farm successes to reduce on-farm emissions from livestock production. The case studies demonstrate an increase in production and increase of resource use efficiency as well as a reduction in greenhouse gases. Six countries, Chile, Indonesia, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and USA have contributed success stories covering a range of livestock systems (beef, dairy and sheep) across different scales (local, state and national).
Each case study outlines the key management activities and the effect of these actions on productivity, income and food security, while also considering the trade-off implications and how this relates to climate change adaptation for this livestock system. The Livestock Research Group are continuing to build this library of on-farm examples as a useful resource that can be shared and provide a basis for research and uptake of similar activities in other countries. Visit the Livestock Research Group page to read the case studies. For more information on any of the case studies, or to share a similar story from your own research contact [email protected].
The microbes responsible for methane emissions in the rumens of ruminant animals have been found to share similarities around the world. The research was carried out by the Global Rumen Census as a collaborative research project with the Livestock Research Group of the Global Research Alliance. The extensive project involved 140 researchers from 73 institutions, analysing rumen microbe samples from 34 countries and farming systems. As a result of this study, there is hope that new technologies that seek to reduce methane emissions by influencing rumen microbes can have global applications.
Read the media release here
Read the full report here
A brief note prepared by Landbouw Economisch Instituut (Agricultural Economics Institute) (LEI) Wageningen University and Research Centre (UR) paints a picture of Central Asia’s agricultural potential and food security in the light of climate change. The Central Asian region comprised of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are agrarian societies and net importers of grains and some other food crops. Agriculture in the region is vulnerable to climate change. Adaptation strategies to manage climate, such as more effective use of inputs, particularly of water, require financial means which the majority of farmers cannot easily afford. In the coming ten to twenty years, Central Asia’s susceptibility to the effects of climate change will be determined by socio-economic factors rather than by climate change itself. Read the article here.
The Global Research Alliance is pleased to welcome the Dominican Republic as the 46th member of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.
On June 5, the UK Government Department of Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), to support the Croplands Research Group of the GRA, launched a free, open source modelling platform to help researchers, developers and students share expertise on the use of models for greenhouse gas emissions measurements.