Project
PATHWAYS (cofin)
Despite the recent uptake of innovative production systems, food systems continue to move on unsustainable trajectories through a focus on “highly tangible, but essentially weak, leverage points”. The identification and assessment of development scenarios in animal agriculture has largely drawn on scientific knowledge that fails to consider the wider impacts of agricultural change beyond animal and field scales (e.g. the wider impacts on society and ecosystems). In other words, innovation in this area has generally failed to recognize that food production is part of a larger socio-ecological system. The assessment of livestock systems is often challenging due to a lack of operational indicators for key environmental and social issues such as biodiversity and animal welfare and capturing crop-livestock interactions. At the same time, greenhouse gas emission rates are highly variable and depend on several factors linked to animal species and physiological status, feeding system, buildings and feeding crop management. Many individuals have suboptimal intakes of micronutrients and over-consume energy-rich foods and the true nutritional value and bioavailability are neglected in food environmental assessment. Within PATHWAYS, we will, therefore, implement a research agenda inspired by systems thinking to identify the transformational potential of ‘sustainability interventions’ within food systems and developing appropriate and comprehensive methodology for the assessment of livestock systems and products.
PATHWAYS’ aim is to inform policy, research and business strategies in support of a transition to more sustainable livestock production and consumption. We will achieve this through improved characterization and assessment of current livestock systems through refined and new indicators, the identification of the trade-offs and synergies of innovations, and through the evaluation of sustainable development scenarios to derive credible, relevant and effective transition pathways. To reach our aim, we have brought together the best scientific expertise in Europe across disciplines, including animal welfare, environmental and economic assessment and policy analysis, to develop novel and scientifically supported holistic sustainability assessment methodologies to identify the best current and future production systems and value chains. Collaboration and co-design with industry stakeholders will ensure relevance and maximize the uptake of innovations. National practice hubs and a European multi-actor platform will allow for an engaged co-design of transition pathways whilst innovative living labs will allow for the testing and sharing of innovative solutions. A community of practice will extend the multi-actor approach to a broad range of stakeholders.