Smart systems approaches for climate resilient livestock production (Webinar)

UK Climate Resilience Programme Webinar Series

Date: 2 December 2020, 12.00-13.00

Speaker: Professor Lisa Collins (University of Leeds), with a stakeholder response from Karro Food Group Ltd

Chair: Dr Kate Lonsdale (co-Champion, UKCR)

Abstract

In this webinar, Lisa Collins will lead a presentation with contributions from members of the ClimatePig team.  We will discuss the impact of local weather conditions on pig production and soil health, exploring how nutrition might be used to mitigate the impact of extreme weather events on environmental emissions.  We will also discuss how precision technology can be used to monitor activity levels and non-point source manure loading, with the longer term aim of predicting the impacts of weather on soil health in such systems.

These multi- and inter-disciplinary climate resilient components are brought together through the development of a process-based model that explores different scenarios for developing a climate-smart, resilient and sustainable production system.

We will share our learning from bringing together multi-disciplinary UK climate resilience researchers and stakeholders to understand the barriers to risk perception and drivers for behaviour change.

Biography

Prof Lisa Collins is Head of the School of Biology, Professor of Animal Science, N8 Agrifood Chair in Agricultural Systems, and Director of the Smart Agri-Systems research initiative at the University of Leeds. Her research focuses on the development and application of smarter agricultural systems through multi-disciplinary approaches including technology development, systems modeling and data analytics. She serves on national and international advisory, funding and academic society councils and strategy groups, including BBSRC, the Dog Advisory Council, ASAB council, and European Food Safety Authority groups.

Prof Collins will be joined by members of the ClimatePig team.

 Stakeholder biography

Karro Food Group Ltd is a privately owned £550m vertically integrated pork business. Their agricultural strategy is to develop and maintain effective and trusted local, national and international supply chains, with a range of different on-farm systems and a focus on optimising animal welfare from birth to slaughter. All pigs are bred outside; at their Brydock Farms site in Aberdeenshire, they have 10.5k outdoor sows and produce 4.6k high welfare pigs every week.