Download or read book The Development of a Modeling Platform to Examine Management Alternatives to Improve the Sustainability of Beef Production written by Robin Rosemarie White and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of this research was to develop a modeling platform to test the effects of management practices on sustainability of beef production systems. A simulation model was constructed to examine the role of improved efficiency on environmental impact (land use, water use and greenhouse gas emissions; EI) of beef production systems while increasing economic viability and consumer willingness to pay (WTP). An optimizer was developed to adjust cattle diets to minimize whole-system EI while constraining production costs within the bounds of consumer WTP. Cradle-to-farmgate EI and production costs were calculated following the simulation model. Consumer WTP for environmental attributes of beef was determined by meta-regression of published estimates of consumer WTP. The validated model was then used to assess how nutritional, reproductive and genetic management could help improve sustainability. Nutritional management alone reduced EI by 2%. Twinning or decreasing the calving window decreased EI by 17% or 11%. Selected bulls by expected progeny difference reduced EI by 18%-19%. Finally, Bayesian analysis was used to quantitatively summarize consumer WTP for environmental attributes of meat. The model predicted U.S. consumers WTP ranged from 6.7% to 32.6%. The confidence range was used to predict probability of consumer purchase across the schedule of WTP. When probability of purchase was ignored, this range in WTP equated to a maximum 65.5 L/kg beef reduction in water use when beef cattle diets were adjusted. When probability of purchase was factored in, a 10% increase in WTP optimized theoretical opportunity to decrease EI, netting a 41.4 L/kg beef reduction in water use. A novel model was successfully developed and used to assess the role of specific management practices and their use in improving beef production sustainability. Optimizing nutritional management, including reliance on precision pasture management, while concurrently improving genetic and reproductive efficiency, substantially improved sustainability. Additionally, when relying on WTP as a method of incentivizing adoption of environmental-impact reducing management practices, focus should be put on obtaining market share rather than sacrificing cost in an attempt to reach the biological ideal opportunity to minimize environmental impact.

Download or read book Book of Abstracts of the 72nd Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science written by Scientific Committee and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-09-14 with total page 668 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Book of Abstracts is the main publication of the 72nd Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP). It contains abstracts of the invited papers and contributed presentations of the sessions of EAAP's eleven Commissions: Animal Genetics, Animal Nutrition, Animal Management and Health, Animal Physiology, Cattle Production, Sheep and Goat Production, Pig Production, Horse Production and Livestock Farming Systems, Insects and Precision Livestock Farming.

Download or read book Animal production and animal science worldwide written by A. Rosati and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-08-28 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the experience of the first volume, The World Association for Animal Production (WAAP) continues the publication of the Book of the Year series for the benefit of animal scientists and policy makers in the field of livestock systems. The WAAP asked the best known and significant animal scientists in the world to contribute to the preparation of this book. Following the success of the first volume of the series, the WAAP Book of the Year 2003, many authors from the six continents are contributing to this 2nd volume. The importance of this publication is to have already established a worldwide reference for the animal science and production sectors. There are the usual four sections that raised much interest in the previous volume of the series. The first section has six articles, describing the changing conditions of livestock systems in each of the six continents. The second section has more than twenty papers, describing the development of the many sectors in which the animal science field has been divided. The third section, dealing with contemporary issues, is declared by our readers to be the most interesting. It allows participating authors to describe current and significant issues important in these last years for the animal science and production sectors. The statistics produced in the previous volume are updated and enhanced with new figures in this book to form the fourth section. The papers included in this book speak clearly of the development in the last twelve months in the livestock systems worldwide. Major space is also devoted to the list of references from where every author can start to deepen his knowledge. This book is essential for libraries that want their readers to be easily updated. Also scientists, policy makers and scientific writers, who need, to enhance their competence, to have the most practical way of knowing what is going on in the world in the field of livestock science and production will find this book of great value.

Download or read book Modeling for Sustainable Management in Agriculture Food and the Environment written by George Vlontzos and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2021-12-22 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent developments in computer science, data mining and big data analytics have resulted in new operational frameworks in agriculture, food and the environment, which in fact, share a strong link between them. A key challenge for researchers is to extract new data patterns and utilize them in decision making. Managers, policy makers, and practitioners have to be aware of these methodologies in order to establish efficient and effective working groups for the tasks to be resolved. The book reviews the complexity of the interrelationship between agriculture, food production and processing, and environmental issues. It also highlights the prospects of modeling in various cases of problem solving in these sectors, and reviews the new and future challenges. Consumer awareness in food production and processing practices is continually increasing and the necessity for advanced behavioural tools follows the same trend. Furthermore, the value chain management challenge is becoming one of the most crucial tasks due to the increased importance of new parameters like the origin of products, its environmental footprint and the enhancement of local production, etc. The book addresses these topics in a holistic approach, merging modeling with advanced marketing practices in a coherent and innovative manner, being an effective tool in a continuously demanding world.

Download or read book Development of Alternative Approaches to Modeling US Beef Production written by William Terry Disney and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Food Systems Modelling written by Christian J. Peters and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2022-01-08 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food Systems Modelling emphasizes sustainability, including the impact of agriculture and food production on profits, people and environment, with a particular focus on the ability of humanity to continue producing food in the midst of global environmental change. Sections introduce the purpose of models, the definition of a food system, the importance of disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary inquiry, cover specific branches of modeling in the sustainability of food systems, and wrestle with the challenge of communicating modeling research and appropriately integrating multiple dimensions of sustainability. This book will be a welcomed reference for food scientists, agricultural scientists, nutritionists, environmental scientists, ecologists, economists, those working in agribusiness and food supply chain management, community and public health, and urban and regional planning, as well as academicians and graduate students interested in the sustainability of food systems. - Emphasizes sustainability, including the impact of agriculture and food production on profits - Focuses on the ability of humanity to continue producing food in the midst of global environmental change - Deciphers what models can teach us about food system sustainability

Download or read book The Rangeland Journal written by and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 882 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Tackling Climate Change Through Livestock written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2013 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Greenhouse gas emissions by the livestock sector could be cut by as much as 30 percent through the wider use of existing best practices and technologies. FAO conducted a detailed analysis of GHG emissions at multiple stages of various livestock supply chains, including the production and transport of animal feed, on-farm energy use, emissions from animal digestion and manure decay, as well as the post-slaughter transport, refrigeration and packaging of animal products. This report represents the most comprehensive estimate made to-date of livestocks contribution to global warming as well as the sectors potential to help tackle the problem. This publication is aimed at professionals in food and agriculture as well as policy makers.

Download or read book Advancing Agroforestry on the Policy Agenda written by Gérard Buttoud and published by Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). This book was released on 2013 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Agroforestry is a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resources management system that, through the integration of trees on farms and in the agricultural landscape, diversifies and sustains production for increased social, economic and environmental bene¬fits for land users at all levels (ICRAF). Yet it is still considered a peripheral activity of agriculture and many farmers and other land users are ignorant of its benefi¬ts. This paper is a guide for policy-makers, advisers and other technocrats who wish to include agroforestry in the national agenda. It aims to assist countries to develop policy, legal and institutional conditions that facilitate the adoption of agroforestry and recognize its contribution to national development. Part I explains the benefi¬ts of agroforestry systems, the necessary conditions for its development, the barriers that have prevented its adoption so far, and the drivers, contextual and internal, that make it possible. Part II outlines 10 tracks for policy action, which if followed correctly will facilitate the development of national policies designed to promote the agroforestry concept and practices at plot, farm and landscape scale. Illustrated with case studies and examples of good practice from around the world, these guidelines are an invaluable addition to the agroforestry global agenda."--Page 4 of cover.

Download or read book Understanding the impact of planted forest on smallholder livestock farmers and their livelihoods in the Greater Mekong Subregion written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2021-11-23 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Significant forest change in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) has resulted in deforestation of primary forests and expansion of plantation forests. Although plantation forest development benefits rural communities through income generation and employment opportunities, there have been negative impacts, including reductions in livestock grazing land and collection of non-timber forest products. This study analysed the association between primary forests, plantation forests, grazing areas and large ruminant populations in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam. The report showed that livestock populations in the GMS are dynamic and have been under pressure due to enhanced trade and demand in red meat in China and Viet Nam, with a generally positive association between planted forest areas and populations of cattle and buffalo in Lao PDR and Viet Nam indicated. Tree plantations were an important source of income and generally perceived as having a positive impact on rural livelihoods, despite negatively impacts in grazing land availability. It is recommended that integrative approaches that include the collection of household level data to assess the impact on smallholder livelihoods and the collection of regional level data to capture forest changes in future forest assessments, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of the association between primary forests and planted forest on smallholder livestock production. Silvopastoral models have the potential to provide more viable and sustainable alternatives to the current forestry and livestock production models, supporting the transformation to more sustainable agriculture for better production, better environment, and sustainable development goals in GMS countries and beyond.

Download or read book Mechanistic Modeling Life Cycle Assessment of Environmental Impacts of Beef Cattle Sheep Production written by Holland Christiana Dougherty and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As population and demand for animal products increase, livestock producers are under both social and economic pressure to intensify production to meet demand. Simultaneously, environmental impacts of livestock production, such as greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and irrigated water usage, are under increased public and regulatory scrutiny for their contributions to climate change and resource scarcity. One GHG under particular scrutiny is methane (CH4), which enters the atmosphere from both manure and enteric emissions by ruminants such as sheep and cattle. For livestock agriculture to continue to meet demand, the processes driving these environmental impacts must be understood and quantified so that impacts may be effectively mitigated. Quantitative models of animal biology can be used by researchers to quantify and analyze environmental impacts of livestock production on both animal-level and system-level scales. Mechanistic models model higher-level processes by explicitly representing the underlying structure of the system being modeled as an integration of lower-level processes. These mechanistic models can be used as both research tools to explore understanding of a current system, or to predict animal performance and environmental impacts. AusBeef is a mechanistic, dynamic model for predicting beef cattle performance, and which predicts enteric CH4 production based on ruminal hydrogen balance. The ability of AusBeef to predict enteric CH4 and gross energy intake was compared to that of the 2016 Beef NRC model, an empirical model of beef cattle production, and the Ruminant Nutrition System (RNS) a dynamic, mechanistic model (Tedeschi & Fox 2016). Overall, AusBeef performed most similarly to the empirical NRC model, and all models required further refinement to improve CH4 prediction on forage diets. Three sensitivity analysis methods, one local and two global, were then used to evaluate AusBeef’s behaviour on forage-based and concentrate-based diets for four methane-relevant outputs of interest. Different patterns of sensitivity were observed between forage-based and concentrate-based diets, but patterns were consistent within diet types. System-level models such as those used in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can be mechanistic or empirical in nature, and are useful for evaluating the impacts of a specific production system, as well as to benchmark or evaluate environmental impacts on an industry level. Region-specific analysis of livestock emissions and resource usage helps to understand unique characteristics of a region’s livestock production systems and can be used to develop mitigation methods tailored to these specific circumstances. A cradle-to-farm gate LCA of the California sheep industry was conducted to evaluate the carbon and irrigated water footprints of five different meat sheep production systems. Enteric CH4 was the largest contributor to overall emissions, while irrigated pasture use was a major driver of irrigated water footprint. Sensitivity analysis showed that carbon footprint per kg market lamb was sensitive to ewe replacement rate and lambs produced per ewe, highlighting the importance of flock management strategies to overall sustainability. The present studies show the utility of animal-level and system-level models to evaluate the environmental impacts of different livestock production systems, as well as the usefulness of sensitivity analysis in identifying model drivers. These studies also suggest future directions for data collection and model development to help identify and target mitigation strategies for both beef and sheep production.

Download or read book New Aspects of Meat Quality written by Peter P. Purslow and published by Woodhead Publishing. This book was released on 2022-08-23 with total page 918 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New Aspects of Meat Quality, Second Edition continues to be the leading source of scientific information for what constitutes meat quality for consumers, marketers and producers in the 21st century. The book includes traditional measures of meat quality such as texture, water holding, color, flavor/aroma, safety/microbiology and processing characteristics as well as quality assurance schemes, organic/free range, ethical meat production, and the desirability of genetically modified organisms, amongst others. Users will find comprehensive coverage on developments in our understanding of how muscle structure affects the eating qualities of cooked meat, along with techniques for measuring, predicting and producing meat quality. In addition, the book covers how these new techniques help us minimize variability in eating quality and/or maximize value. The book's final section identifies the current qualities of consumer and public perceptions and what is sustainable, ethical, desirable and healthy in meat production and consumption. - Provides the latest research techniques and developments presented by top researchers in the field - Covers new aspects of meat quality with the same scientific authority as texts on traditional meat quality value - Includes five new chapters that cover the role of proteolysis, meat flavor, meat bi-products, and meat and public health

Download or read book Sustainable Livestock Management in the Kalahari An Optimal Livestock Rangeland model OLR written by and published by IIED. This book was released on with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Realizing Livelihood and Environmental Benefits of Forages in Tropical Crop Tree Livestock Systems written by Michael Peters and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2022-11-25 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book System Simulation Modeling of a Beef Cattle Enterprise to Investigate Management Decision Making Strategies written by Michael Raymond Jaske and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Complex System Approach to Assess the Beef Cattle Industry Robustness Against Biosecurity Threats written by Qihui Yang and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern infrastructure systems have become increasingly interconnected, and this includes those in the agricultural industry. Although this interdependence enables the economic functioning of the interdependent system, it also brings vulnerabilities to the system amplifying disease spreading and natural disaster consequences. With this background, this dissertation aims to investigate behaviors of complex systems facing biosecurity challenges from different perspectives. First, we develop an agent-based model simulating the beef cattle production and related transportation services in southwest Kansas, United States. We evaluate the robustness of the interdependent system by constructing hypothetical disruptions in both the cattle industry and the transportation industry. We observe that the system is robust to random failures but vulnerable to the targeted shutdown of cattle premises or truck premises. In addition, disruptions in the trucks serving packers have the worst impact on cattle production, as compared to other transportation disruptions. In disaster preparations, policymakers need to pay particular attention to one of its critical components, meat packers. Second, we assess the impact of truck contamination and information sharing on the foot-and-mouth disease transmission. Scenario analyses results show that including indirect contact routes between premises via truck movements can significantly increase the amplitude of disease spread, compared with equivalent scenarios that only consider animal movement. We find that mitigation strategies informed by information sharing can effectively mitigate epidemics, highlighting the benefit of promoting information sharing in the cattle industry. Third, we examine the impact of human behavior factors on a hypothetical foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. The simulation results indicate that heterogeneity of individuals regarding risk attitudes significantly affects the epidemic dynamics, and human-behavior factors need to be considered for improved epidemic forecasting. With the same initial biosecurity status, the number of infected producer locations and cattle losses can be more effectively reduced with an increase in the percentage of risk-averse producers selecting large producers first compared to randomly selecting producers. In addition, the reduction in epidemic size caused by the shifting of producers' risk attitudes towards risk-aversion is heavily dependent on the distribution of the initial biosecurity level. Fourth, we study the robustness of supply chain networks against cascading failures. The simulation results show that the system is relatively robust against load fluctuations but is more fragile to demand shocks. For the underload-driven model without the recovery process, we find the existence of a discontinuous phase transition. Compared to other systems studied under overload cascading failures, this system is more robust for power-law distributions than uniform distributions of the lower bound parameter for the studied scenarios. Finally, it is critical to prevent the 2019 novel coronavirus disease spread, which has left significant economic consequences to the U.S. beef industry. Several slaughterhouses were forced to stop operations temporarily due to outbreaks identified among meat-processing workers, causing sharp disruptions in beef production. We use network-based modeling to examine the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions on the coronavirus disease spreading with various scenarios. Although the method is applied to simulate the early stage of epidemic dynamics in Hubei province, China, the model developed can be easily adapted to other regions. The simulation results show that without continued control measures, the epidemic in Hubei Province could have become persistent. Only by continuing to decrease the infection rate through protective measures and social distancing can the actual epidemic trajectory that happened in Hubei Province be reconstructed in simulation. In summary, we develop several computational models for robustness assessment and epidemic prediction and control in this dissertation. The outcomes are expected to raise awareness of vulnerabilities in the interconnected systems and benefit existing disaster preparedness.

Download or read book Designing Sustainable Technologies Products and Policies written by Enrico Benetto and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-07-03 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book provides insight into the implementation of Life Cycle approaches along the entire business value chain, supporting environmental, social and economic sustainability related to the development of industrial technologies, products, services and policies; and the development and management of smart agricultural systems, smart mobility systems, urban infrastructures and energy for the built environment. The book is based on papers presented at the 8th International Life Cycle Management Conference that took place from September 3-6, 2017 in Luxembourg, and which was organized by the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) and the University of Luxembourg in the framework of the LCM Conference Series.