Innovation and innovative practices can improve the sustainability of sheep and goat sector, however, they are not extensively used, tested or validated. In this context, iSAGE project aims to explore the potential of key innovations that may contribute increase the sustainability of sheep and goat production system in Europe. Key innovations were identified using a survey and 2 workshops with 18 European industry and science organizations. Industry partners then selected 35 innovations to test on farms. The main reason for industry partners to test these innovations was related to economic sustainability. However, direct and indirect social and environmental benefits of the selected innovations will also be explored using farm data, surveys and interviews. Some remarkable innovations were related to the development and implementation of genomic selection and individual recording technologies, and to the increase social sustainability of sheep farming by boosting the generational turnover and support new entrants.
The sheep and goat sector in Europe is very diverse with different stages of
development and diversity across and within counties and among breeds
Innovations and innovative practices that have helped farming systems evolve
include practices and technology related to feed and drugs, animal breeding, product
marketing, infrastructural and organizational operations. Recent development of
information and precision technology, data management and genetics and genomics,
have led to a whole new set of farming innovation that have been, or are planned to
be introduced into farms
Other challenges for introducing innovation into sheep and goat production systems are: 1. Relative to other agricultural sectors, sheep and particularly goat technology has remained relatively stagnant and neglected from the mainstream research. 2. Low sector incomes. Increasing input costs, combined with inadequate farm-gate prices and poor monetization of by-products have made incomes among the lowest in the agricultural industry and heavily dependent on public support. 3. Lack of skilled workers. The sector productivity is hampered by a lack of technical services and training. Declining rural populations creates a shortage of skilled workers. 4. High farmer age and lack of generation transfer. Sheep and goat farmers are older than farmers in other sectors. Elderly farmers are often reluctant to make changes and young people are not interested in the business.
Therefore, the iSAGE project aims to identify and explore the potential of key innovations that may contribute increase the sustainability of sheep and goat production system in Europe. 2
We identified innovations that the European sheep and goat industry think are important to increase sustainability. These innovations were found with help from the EU funded iSAGE project (isage.eu) consortium which includes 18 partners representing the sheep and goat industry. These industry institutions are among the most relevant and representative of sheep and goat farmers in the Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and UK.
We identified and explored key innovation for sheep and goat sector using two steps: 1) Identification of key sector innovations. Research and industry partners identified the most relevant innovations in their countries using an online survey and two project workshops. The online survey asked, which innovations the partners thought would benefit and impact sustainability of the sheep and goat sector. All 18 iSAGE industry partners answered the survey. The results of the survey were shared with all partners and discussed with industry partners in two project meetings in Thessaloniki in April 2016 and Zaragoza in June 2016. A list of key innovations for European sheep and goat farming was produced as the outcome of the workshops. 2) Test and exploration of selected innovations. Industry partners chose, from the identified innovation, the most interesting and feasible innovations for their needs and status of their specific industries. Innovation case studies were then defined and protocols designed to test and explore the potential of selected innovation. Case studies were designed to understand (i) how and why do farmers use (or not use) innovations and innovative practices to make their farms sustainable, and (ii) under what conditions are innovations and innovative practices applicable. 3
The industry partners identified fifty-two innovations and innovative practices. These innovations fit into different categories: individual recording, animal handling equipment, pasture and forage management and improvement, drug alternatives, health and welfare tests, reproduction, breeding and genetics, and marketing. Due to the diversity of farming system, some innovations were only relevant or applicable in some countries, while other had a wider relevance. We categorized these potential innovations into dairy or meat (D/M), sheep or goat (S/G) and intensive or extensive farm types (INT/EXT). Innovations were also rated according to their applicability for case studies (Low, Medium and High). The innovations identified cover the diversity of sheep and goat systems in Europe. Therefore, the benefits of the innovations potentially apply to all European sheep and goat industries. Table 1 shows innovations which were considered highly applicable and of general interest to European sheep and goat industries.
Industry partners selected 35 innovation case studies about reproduction (8), farm technology; which included individual data recording (6) and handling technology (1), breeding and genetics (6), forage and feeds (4), health and welfare (3), pastures and grazing (2), products and marketing (2), and others (3). The main reason to choose most of those innovation was to increase economic sustainability of farms. Therefore, profitability appears to be the main incentive for farmers (and industry institutions) to voluntarily introduce and assess innovations on their farms.
Despite economics being the main driver of innovation selection, in many cases there were indirect environmental (through increased efficiency) and social benefits, which farmers were also interested in identifying and assessing. To do so, case studies included the analysis of farm data, and farmer interviews and surveys Electronic microchip readers and automatic milk recording systems for individual milk production.
Freeze drying for longer storage and exportation to China New dairy products and meat cuts
Better use of the environmental and social aspects of sheep farming in the marketing of sheep meat. Improve labelling and product recognition
D/M D/M D/M D/M D/M D/M D D D/M D/M D/M D/M D/M D/M D D D D D/M D/M D/M D/M D/M
or Goat
S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G G G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G S/G
EXT EXT INT INT INT/EXT INT/EXT INT/EXT INT/EXT INT INT INT/EXT INT/EXT INT/EXT INT INT/EXT INT INT INT INT/EXT INT/EXT INT/EXT INT/EXT INT/EXT INT/EXT INT/EXT
One case study which aims to increase social sustainability is the assessment of the UK Ambassador Program. This program aims to boost the generational turnover and support new entrants to sheep farming. The initiative provides an opportunity for young farmers from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to attend practical training delivery sessions throughout one year on a number of sheep topics such as farm/livestock management and business planning. The case study will collect mostly qualitative data through interviews with present and past participants in the Ambassador Programme. This is an important case study because lack of generation turnover is a common problem of sheep and goat industries across Europe. Therefore, the results of this case study will show the potential of implementing similar programmes in other countries.
There were two innovations which will be tested across countries: a) Genomic selection. The across-country case study on genomics will explore the potential, drivers and constraints of genomic selection in the sheep and goat sector. The case study involves research and industry partners from France, Greece and Spain, It has two main aims. Firstly, to evaluate the potential contribution of genomic selection to genetic gain by simulating scenarios using real data structures of each population involved and creating scenarios of implementation. In addition, the case study will also use economic data to evaluate if the potential benefits of this tool pay off the investment in genotyping. Secondly, the case study will explore the impact of using genomic selection on current breeding programmes implementation. This awareness will be recorded by surveying and interviewing farmers about their awareness of genomic selection and their perception on the economic and organizational constraints for its implementation in breeding programmes. b) Individual data recording technologies are at different stages of implementation in several countries and their full potential and development of individual recording has not been reached as compared to more developed systems (i.e. pig, poultry and cattle). Partners from France, Greece, Spain and Turkey have designed case studies focusing on different aspects of individual data recording systems, from technology developments to extension activities. Partners will work together to find a general overview of the state, needs, potential and constraints of data recording technologies and systems for sheep and goat industry in Europe. 4
Conclusion iSAGE innovation case studies have just started and will be completed across the next two years. The 35 selected case studies will explore and show the potential impact that innovations have to improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of sheep and goat farms. Case studies of success are expected to be relevant to the sheep and goat industries in Europe because innovations were chosen by industry members who are a large representation of the sector across Europe.