HEARTLAND — Health, Environment, Agriculture, Rural development: Training network for LAND management

Results in brief

Health, Environment, Agriculture, Rural development: Training network for LAND management

Livestock farming is increasingly in the spotlight because of its impacts on the environment and human health. Global livestock production has been associated with land use change, methane emissions, climate change, deforestation and biodiversity loss. At the same time, consumption of livestock proteins exceeds total human protein requirements for a healthy diet in most European Member States. The challenge is therefore to develop livestock production systems that enhance sustainability and support a healthy diet. Heartland (Health, Environment, Agriculture and Rural development: Training on LAND management) will connect one of the most notable industry initiatives (at the Lands at Dowth of Devenish Nutrition (DN) and Devenish Nutrition UK (DNUK)) to scientific knowledge on sustainable and healthy food production (generated at Wageningen University and Research (WUR), University College Dublin (UCD), University of Gloucestershire). The impact of this EID programme will be maximised by working closely with experts in communication and dissemination at the European Food Information Council and Bord Bia. The bold proposition underpinning Heartland is that sustainability and health are inextricably linked, all the way “from soil to society”: Sustainable food production = healthy farms producing healthy food for healthy people living in a healthy world. In other words, a programme that expands the concept of environmentally and economically sustainable farm management to include healthy food for a healthy society as a potential business opportunity in terms of adding value and a unique selling point to otherwise ‘commodity’ foods. The overall objective of this project is to train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative PhD graduates to investigate how economically and environmentally sustainable ruminant livestock products of enhanced nutritional value can be developed through a pasture-based production system while complementing soil, sward, animal, environment and ultimately human health.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Livestock farming is increasingly in the spotlight because of its impacts on the environment and human health. Global livestock production, specifically ruminant farming, has been associated with land use change, methane emissions, climate change, deforestation and biodiversity loss. At the same time, consumption of livestock proteins exceeds total human protein requirements for a healthy diet in most European Member States. However, ruminants can convert biomass unsuitable for direct human consumption (e.g. grass resources) into valuable food, including essential macro and micro-nutrients for humans. While grazing, ruminants contribute to: maintaining the landscape and, in specific local conditions, to; enhancing biodiversity and increasing carbon sequestration.The contemporary industry challenge is therefore to develop livestock production systems that simultaneously enhance environmental sustainability and support a healthy diet. This is a knowledge-intensive process. Therefore, this European Industrial Doctorate (EID) programme – HEARTLAND+ will connect one of the most notable industry to the cutting-edge scientific knowledge while maximising the impact of the programme by working closely with experts in communication (to multiple audiences) and dissemination (to potential end-users).The objectives of HEARTLAND+ can be summarized as follows:1. To train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative PhD graduates in the multidisciplinary topic of soil-to-society2. To design, implement and evaluate a soil, sward, and grazing farm management system aimed at maximising the positive impact on the environment, improving the nutritional and sensory quality of meat, and consequently improving human health in component and systems research3. To upscale the findings to contribute to the sectoral development of sustainable production systems and land management4. To communicate, disseminate and exploit the findings

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY · WageningenCoordinatorNetherlands
AN BORD BIA · DUBLIN 4Ireland
DEVENISH NUTRITION LTD · BelfastUnited Kingdom
DEVENISH RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION LIMITED · DowthIreland
EUROPEAN FOOD INFORMATION COUNCIL · Bruxelles / BrusselBelgium
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN · DublinIreland
UNIVERSITY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE · CheltenhamUnited Kingdom

HEARTLAND · Health, Environment, Agriculture, Rural development: Training network for LAND management

Results in brief

Health, Environment, Agriculture, Rural development: Training network for LAND management

Project objective

Participants

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