A novel framework for international comparisons of on-farm sustainability was the main focus of a WUN Global Farm Platform workshop – made possible by the WUN Sustainability Fund – held at The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi from 11-13 November 2018.
WUN Global Farm Platform’s academic lead Professor Mark Eisler (University of Bristol) said ‘Ruminant livestock production in increasingly in the spotlight for greenhouse gas emissions, but there are also important benefits for global food security, health and sustainable livelihoods and the issues are far more nuanced than the negative headlines suggest. The Global Farm Platform harnesses the power of research facilities across the planet to understand these trade-offs more effectively for the future benefit of mankind.’
Key outcomes and actions of the workshop include a cross-site study to be carried out by University of Bristol, Rothamsted Research, ILRI’s Kapiti Farm Platform and at CIAT Colombia. The Global Farm Platform (GFP) “smallholder group” of WUN and WUN+ partners and other related institutions will carry out a separate cross-site study based on on-field data and existing socioeconomic microdata such as the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study and ILRI’s Rural Household Multi-indicator Survey.
This information will be fed into a model for computation of streamlined agricultural metrics of sustainability for all GFP partners based in lower middle-income countries (LMICs). Strategies for future funding and dissemination of model outputs were also developed at the WUN workshop.
More information about WUN Global Farm Platform is available on this website. Also see the recent University of Bristol/Rothamsted research publication on agricultural sustainability metrics designed for a single farm.
