Royal Agricultural University Repository
Not a member yet
647 research outputs found
Sort by
What does ‘co-production’ look like for food system transformation? Mapping the evidence across Transforming UK Food Systems (TUKFS) projects
Get PDFCo-production is a collaborative way of working which emphasises the exchange of diverse forms of knowledge in an equal partnership for equal benefits. Co-produced research is a key strategic aim of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Transforming UK Food Systems (TUKFS) Strategic Priorities Fund; this research programme brings together researchers, policymakers, industry and communities to create positive change in the way food is produced, accessed and consumed. However, more generally, there are diverse understandings of co-production and a lack of consensus on what ‘good practice’ looks like. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and map examples of co-production methods employed across the TUKFS programme. Two creative workshops (n = 15 participants), conversations with TUKFS researchers and stakeholders (n = 15), and systematic analysis of project documents were used to critically explore co-production activities within six TUKFS projects. A range of co-production activities were identified. Findings highlighted areas of ‘messiness’ and complexity, challenges associated with applying co-production approaches and practical solutions. Four key shared principles for co-production were identified: (1) Relationships: developing and maintaining reciprocity-based partnerships; (2) Knowledge: recognising the contribution of diverse forms of expertise; (3) Power: considering power dynamics and addressing imbalances; and (4) Inclusivity: ensuring research is accessible to all who wish to participate. Opportunities for reflection and reflexivity were considered crucial across all these areas. Findings contribute important insights towards a shared conceptual understanding of co-production for food system transformation research. This paper makes recommendations for researchers, practitioners, academic institutions and funders working in this area of research and practice
Understanding the interests of academics from diverse disciplines to identify the prospective focus for a UK-based transdisciplinary network involving farm-to-fork stakeholders on antimicrobial resistance in agrifood systems: An online survey
Get PDFAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) evolution and onward transmission of resistance genes is impacted by interrelated biological and social drivers, with evidence and impacts observed across human, animal and environmental One Health domains. Systems-based research examining how food production impacts on AMR in complex agrifood systems is lacking, with little written on management approaches in the UK that might prevent and respond to this challenge. One approach is the creation of a transdisciplinary network to enhance capacity, capability and collaboration between agrifood-focused disciplines and stakeholders. This co-creation platform for network-wide systems-based activities would reduce inefficiencies in AMR-related activities around agrifood, providing a cross-cutting, cohesive community to deliver transformational guidance on relevant, practical agrifood solutions that add value by reducing AMR, antimicrobial usage and associated costs, and decreasing resultant environmental contamination by prioritising challenges, sharing knowledge and best practice, and co-creating practical solutions with key stakeholders. An online survey determined prospective network focus, structure and priorities, with responses analysed using mixed methods. Survey results suggested respondents have interests in synthesising data using systems-approaches and using certain disciplines such as �social sciences� within network activities. There were disconnects in how and whom to work with on this, with generalised use of �social science/scientists� but lack of disciplinary understanding (e.g., anthropology, sociology) suggesting disciplinary differences awareness-training is useful. A similar generalisation is seen for mathematics/statistics. There are strong interests in working with food system practitioners (e.g., farmers/vets), providing opportunities for farm/field visits/knowledge exchange, and human health, reflecting the need for farm-to-fork understanding of impacts. There were notable mentions of policy/governance, emphasising translational research desires to create meaningful change. Disciplines/fields did not always align with identified interests e.g., systems and implementation science, suggesting the utility of network activity around introducing these disciplines e.g., methodology-focused rather than subject-focused conferences exploring lateral thinking about subjects. We suggest starting by developing understanding of the most important research questions by working with stakeholders, then working back to how we would achieve desirable project outcomes and who else is needed for this
Segmenting consumers of meat and dairy products from five European countries: Implications for promoting sustainable food choices
No full textAccelerating the transition of agri-food systems towards higher sustainability requires greater understanding of
consumers’ decision-making related to sustainable food choices, together with competing drivers which may
result in unsustainable food choice demand. Meat and dairy production systems negatively contribute to
greenhouse gas targets, unless sustainable production methods are applied, and these are understood by consumers and used in food choices. The psychological factors determining consumers’ attitudes towards sustainably
produced meat and dairy products were assessed. Data were collected through an online survey across five
European countries (Czechia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) (n = 2490) in November
2021. The results showed consumers perceived food sustainability to be less important than sensory and
healthiness attributes. UK consumers showed the strongest intentions to increase consumption of sustainably
produced meat and dairy products. In contrast, Swiss consumers demonstrated the weakest intentions. A twostage cluster analysis based on consumers’ perceived attribute importance identified four distinct segments:
low food involvement (19.6 %), high food involvement (31.9 %), price-sensitive (23.2 %), and health- and sustainability-involved (25.3 %) consumer segments. Respondents in low food involvement and price-sensitive consumer
segments tended to be younger and have lower environmental preservation attitudes and were more prevalent in
Switzerland and Czechia. Those in high food involvement and health- and sustainability-involved consumer segments
perceived higher importance of food sustainability and were more prevalent in Spain and Sweden. These respondents expressed greater intentions to increase consumption of sustainably produced meat and dairy products, at the same time being more likely to recognise the utility of sustainability labelling information. Animal
welfare information was perceived to be most important for respondents in all the segments with the exception of
those in the price-sensitive consumer segment. Building on the results, recommendations for promoting consumer
sustainable food choices are proposed
Tipping points and farmer decision-making in European permanent grassland (PG) agricultural systems
No full textPermanent grasslands (PG) provide multifunctional ecosystem services (ES) in Europe and globally, which are threatened by both increased farming intensity and land use change in marginal areas. Farm management decisions can represent critical thresholds, or behavioural “tipping points”, in the agricultural system. Decisions are influenced by a combination of agronomic, policy and social factors. Transformation of PG systems can be facilitated through positive tipping points and relevant policy implementation to ensure sustainable PG systems. The aim of this research was to understand the drivers of decisions regarding land use changes and management towards critical positive and negative tipping points across five biogeographic zones in Europe. Interview methodology assessed farmers’ preferences and priorities regarding the adoption of sustainable PG systems. Participants were selected from five case study countries, each representing a different biogeographic zone in Europe (Continental/Pannonian: Czech Republic, Boreal: Sweden, Mediterranean: Spain, Alpine: Switzerland, and Atlantic: UK). The sample also covered three farming intensity types within these biogeographic zones: high input/intensive conventional farms (≥1.0 LU/ha); low input/extensive conventional farms (<1.0 LU/ha); and
certified organic farms. In total, 373 farm interviews were obtained from the case study countries between October 2020 and October 2021. The analysis focuses on drivers of change and considers tipping points across these countries, considering case studies of land use changes (specifically land abandonment) and land management practices (specifically changes in stocking rates). The most common reasons for PG management changes towards either intensification or extensification were economic. Farmers require policy support to increase provision of non-market ES, while rebalancing subsidies can deliver environmental ES at scale through abandonment (e.g., through the creation of specific habitats that support some threatened species). Agrienvironment schemes (AES)and subsidies could be more flexible to allow farmers to better adapt grassland management to local production conditions and unpredictable circumstances such as droughts, floods, or market
shocks. To maintain PG that delivers more goods and services, financial compensation for ES delivery was perceived to be the most significant support mechanism needed, while easier access to ES provision expertise through extension or consultancy services is considered important factor
Drought resilience: water resources and agricultural settings
No full textDrought resilience and water resources, the terms that are becoming increasingly used todav. are gaining prominence particularly within the agricultural industry. Greater efforts
are required to mitigate devasting drought effects on farmers, their livelihood and the vulnerabilities that they create for the wider food sector
Assessing effective deterrence of theft in transboundary water systems
Get PDFAnalysis of water theft remains challenging given poor data and limited cases, restricting assessments to higher levels where attempted. However, high level research within key transboundary contexts can offer evidence for improved theft deterrence and critical legislative change requirements, along with institutional insights for other jurisdictions. For example, Federal water regulators of Australia’s Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), which is a significant transboundary water system, have called for consistency in compliance and certainty across State jurisdictions to help protect water market confidence and resource reallocation outcomes that are critical in drought periods. This paper explores the complex legal processes for penalty setting in water theft cases that may drive ineffective compliance when the value of legal harm is procedurally downgraded under the legitimate consideration of mitigating factors. We aim to identify applied certainty and severity deterrence principles for reducing environmental and economic harm, as well as how to incorporate alternate water values in penalty setting to inform a future framework to analyse MDB legislative consistency and institutional transparency with lessons for other countrie
Abatement and transaction costs of water reallocation
Get PDFWater reallocations have costs to the users of water, or abatement costs (e.g., charges designed to marginally increase environmental water flows), but also nontrivial institutional transaction costs (e.g., costs incurred to develop institutions and organizations to support and enforce environmental reallocations). However, institutional transaction costs studies are very limited and those available do not integrate abatement costs measurements, which constrains our ability to assess the performance of water reallocation. This paper presents the first integrated analysis of abatement and transaction costs of water reallocation. The analysis is illustrated with an application to the Douro River Basin, an agricultural basin in central Spain that has recently finished its second planning cycle (2015-2021). First, we use a hydroeconomic model that accounts for the two-way feedback responses between human and water systems to estimate the abatement costs of water reallocations, as well as their effectiveness in achieving the good ecological status of water bodies. Second, we measure and monetize realized institutional transaction costs of river basin planning over time and build on this cutting-edge longitudinal dataset to assess future directions and magnitude of transaction costs. We use this information to assess and rank the performance (through cost-effectiveness) of the water reallocations considered in the latest Douro River Basin Plan under alternative climate change scenarios. We find that under the hypothesis of stationary transaction costs, these can represent between 5.7% and 8.3% of the total reallocation costs (abatement plus transaction costs). This non-trivial magnitude highlights the need to account for both abatement and transaction costs when assessing the performance of water reallocations, and environmental policy overall
Straight from the horse’s mouth: The effect of different feedstuffs on oral pH in horses and ponies
Get PDFFeedstuffs, especially ensiled forage, may be detrimental to equid oral health by exposing the oral cavity to low pH. This study aimed to identify if salivary pH was altered by 1) a range of different feedstuffs and (2) specifically by feeding haylages with differing nutrient profiles. Two studies were conducted. The first measured oral pH following five feedstuffs, (hay, haylage, unmolassed sugarbeet pulp, unmolassed alfalfa chaff and rolled oats), tested individually over five days. Saliva (≥1ml) was collected in triplicate, prior to feeding, directly after ingesting 500g of each feedstuff, then 15 minutes and 30 minutes post-prandially. Oral pH was determined (pH meter) within 10 minutes of collection. In study two, eight ponies, were fed as their total diet, four different haylages over four 15-day periods. Saliva was collected, prior to feeding and immediately after ingesting 500g of forage on day 1, day 6, and day 12 of each period. Samples were collected and analysed as per study one. All data were analysed by repeated measures ANOVA, and in study two linear regression was used to attempt to predict nutrients that influenced oral pH. All statistics were conducted in Genstat 20th Ed. Only feeding unmolassed sugarbeet caused a reduction (p<0.001) in oral pH. There were differences in oral pH depending on the type of haylage fed in study two but at all times oral pH post-feeding was the same or greater than basal pH. These studies suggest any feed associated modulation of oral pH in horses may only be short-lived and quickly buffered by saliva. However, these studies only reflect oral pH within the oral cavity around the feeding occasion and may not reflect gingival pH or the effects of different feeds over longer time periods