Learning and empowerment in farmer groups as one way of creating a healthy process of animal health and welfare planning

An animal health and welfare plan is a useful document as a tool for improving the farm in ways which will lead to improvements in the herd. Atkinson & Neale (2008) distinguished between ‘animal health plan’ and ‘animal health planning’, where the first was the document, and the latter was the necessary process leading to formulating a plan. This means that the document becomes useful because it is a result of an active planning process, which involves a systematic analysis of the situation and a reflective process where the people, who are actually responsible for changes in the farm, are actively participating in the analysis of the situation and articulating their perceptions and planned actions. This process can be carried through in very many ways in practice, although based around some overall principles which ensure that there is room to carry through the process

Participatory Common Learning in Groups of Dairy Farmers in Uganda (FFS approach) and Danish Stable Schools

Farmer Field Schools (FFS) is a well-known concept, which is widely used in many types of farming systems in the Global South. In this report different approaches to FFS adjusted to Ugandan smallholder dairy systems and to Danish organic dairy systems are explored and discussed. The report is based on a Master Thesis in Health Anthropology and a mini manual to the so-called Stable Schools. Improvements of farming practices should be based on the context of the individual farm and include the goals of the farmer and the farming system. This should be the case in all types of farming systems. Viewing learning as a social phenomenon and process, as well as an interaction between the learner and the learning environment (including other farmers) may give opportunities for context based innovations and developments towards a common goal in a group of farmers. It is also seen as a result of common transformative learning and legitimate peripheral participation in a social learning environment

Research in Organic Animals and Livestock Production

Over the last 80 years a wide range of diverse organic livestock systems have developed. The driving force behind these developments has mainly been the farmers, consumers and various movements; and it has happened more “despite research” than “because of research.” Most production methods have developed in Western Europe and USA, where they are primarily niche products for consumers who give priority to environmental and animal welfare concerns. In these countries organic livestock production offers the option of establishing a niche product that can be sold at a higher price, e.g. as for milk and eggs. In some cases, the potential of organic farming is associated with the adoption of organic principles into existing systems with the aim of improving sustainability, and achieving environmentally friendly production, food security and good food quality. In the US, government support for organic research, some of which was for livestock studies, increased from 15 million dollars in 2002 to 78 million in 2008. In Australia where more than 95% of the certified organic land is pasture, government-supported research tends to focus on organic dairy and meat production. In addition, research into agro-forestry systems is also of potential interest to the Australian organic sector. In many African and Asian countries, organic livestock plays a very minor role compared with production of high value organic crops, and hence is not covered specifically in research initiatives. A recent survey on African organically-oriented research projects concluded that no significant research focuses on organic livestock. In South America, a number of research projects have been carried out on integrated agro-ecological farming, which includes livestock. These are not necessarily certified organic systems, as “organic” is often perceived as high value products, while “agro-ecological farming” is basically the application of the fundamental organic principles, so research in these systems provides valuable insights for organic research in general. Research is necessary for many reasons, but at a fundamental level it is relevant to both provide specialised knowledge relevant to organic situations (e.g. feed stuffs) and to take a systems approach through interdisciplinary research (e.g. how grazing systems integrate good animal welfare aims with environmental care). A third aspect important to consider is the human and social structures around organic livestock systems, e.g. farmer attitudes, actions, practices and interactions with advisory services

Organic Farming as A Development Strategy: Who are Interested and Who are not?

Much evidence shows that implementation of organic farming (OF) increases productivity in the Global South, and that it will be possible to feed a growing world population with food produced in OF systems. OF is explored, analysed and discussed in relation to the principles of Ecology, Health, Care and Fairness as enunciated by IFOAM, as a developmental strategy. Major financial powers are involved in the agro-related industries. A number of civil society-based organisations point to the major negative side effects of the trade with and use of agro-chemical products environmentally and in the further deepening of the gaps between rich and poor. The MDGs target the environmental sustainability explicitly, and OF is regarded as being a relevant strategy to meet many goals. A global development strategy is needed that explicitly includes future generations, ecosystems, biodiversity and plant and animal species threatened by eradication

The ANIPLAN project: Reflections on the research approaches, methods and challenges

The objective of the ANIPLAN project is to ‘investigate active and well planned animal health and welfare promotion and disease prevention as a means of minimising medicine use in organic dairy herds’. The basic idea lying behind this objective is that the active development of plans at the farm level to improve herd health and welfare will enable individual farmers to practically achieve the organic principles with regard to the health and well-being of organically-farmed animals. To fulfil the objective, the project needs to be carried out in close collaboration with farmers and conducted in real farm situations. This means that the research is being carried out in an environment which is not under control the control of researchers. This, in turn means that there are inevitable methodological issues which will arise during the course of the study. This paper describes some of the issues arising during the first part of the study i.e the setting up of the project and the first year of data collection. One major challenge for the research team involved in this project is to identify research methods which can describe and document the planning process as well as the disease, production and medicine use on study farms. This documentation will enable the researchers as well as the end-users of the research to evaluate the approach and the effect of animal health and welfare planning on herds. This includes the process of animal health and welfare planning, which can be regarded as an iterative social and individual human development process. The transformative learning process (Vaarst, ibid.) leading to a change of perceptions and priorities of those involved should be expected before actual changes are implemented in the herds. Again, there are methodological issues to consider in this respect

The Geography of the European Creative Class A Rank-Size Analysis

Using novel statistical data, the paper analyzes the geographical distribution of Richard Florida’s creative class among 445 European cities. The paper demonstrates that size matters, i.e. cities with a high proportion of creative class tend to get more creative through attraction of still more creative labor. More specifically, the distribution of the European creative class falls into three phases, each approximating a rank-size rule, with different exponents (i.e., inequality). The exponent for the smallest cities is profoundly more negative than for the middle-sized cities, and this tendency is stronger for the creative class than for the general population. Furthermore, the exponent of the largest cities is slightly less negative than the middle-sized cities, and this tendency is also stronger for the creative class. In order to explain this, the paper presents four propositions about how effects of large and small population sizes of cities may be more detrimental to attracting the creative class than attracting the population in general. Below a population size of approximately 70,000 inhabitants, there is a rapid drop of attractiveness to the creative class with decreasing city size. We propose that this may be because below this size, cities begin to drop below minimum efficient market sizes for particular creative services, below minimum labor market sizes for particular creative job types, and below minimum levels of political representation by the creative class. Above a European city population size of approximately 1,2 million inhabitants, the attractiveness of increasing city size for the creative class drops, and we propose that the creative class may respond particularly adversely to urban congestion.

Implementation of farmer groups for animal health and welfare planning considering different contexts

This paper reflects some of the discussions that took place during the ANIPLAN workshop where participants discussed the special farming and farmer characteristics, needs and conditions in their own country in relation to farmer discussion groups, as well as more generic issues to consider when taking a farmer group approach to animal health and welfare planning. Farmer discussion groups are not unique, and there are examples of different approaches to, and aims of, farmer groups worldwide. Perhaps an important starting point when analysing the successes and characteristics of these groups is to consider their original purpose. The starting point of the discussion in the ANIPLAN project has been the so-called Danish Stable Schools (Vaarst et al., 2007; Vaarst et al. 2008; mentioned in Vaarst ibid.), as well as existing approaches within the other participating countries, such as the Dutch Caring Dairy groups (Smolders, ibid.). A major feature of the Danish Stable Schools has been the time limited intensive working towards a common goal based around equal participation within the group. This is quite a different approach to other examples, such as the so-called ‘erfa-groups’ in Denmark (‘erfa’ as an abbreviation of ‘erfaring’, which in Danish means ‘experience’) that have worked for decades on dissemination of new knowledge and ideas to and among farmers, focusing on separate themes at each meeting, such as approaches to parasite control, winter feeding strategies, or the use of body condition scores. Similar focused dissemination programmes exist in many countries. What characterises the ANIPLAN project is that the focus is on a rather more systematic animal health and welfare planning process which is meant to be continuous at the farm level

Combining Ethological Thinking and Epidemiological Knowledge to Enhance the Naturalness of Organic Livestock Systems

Organic livestock farming places strong emphasis on conditions that allow animals to exhibit behavioural needs. This involves the provision of a natural environment and, in particular, outdoor conditions and a reliance on natural forages. Such environments also allow animals to be effectively integrated into crop production. However, there are potential disease risks associated with these conditions, with control options being partly limited by restrictions on chemoprophylactic measures. Examples from dairy and poultry production demonstrate how a basic understanding of ethology and a knowledge of disease epidemiology can enhance the welfare of animals whilst satisfying the ecological objectives of organic farming. Existing epidemiological models and published data can be used to examine the potential ensuing health hazards and control possibilities and to suggest alternatives

Does organic farming face distinctive livestock welfare issues? - A conceptual analysis

The recent development and growth of organic livestock farming and the related development of national and international regulations has fuelled discussions among scientists and philosophers concerning the proper conceptualisation of animal welfare. These discussions on livestock welfare in organic farming draw on the conventional discussions and disputes on animal welfare, which involve issues such as different definitions of welfare (clinical health, absence of suffering, sum of positive and negative experiences, etc.), the possibility for objective measures of animal welfare and the acceptable level of welfare. It seems clear that livestock welfare is a value-laden concept and that animal welfare science cannot be made independent of questions of values and ethics. The question investigated here is whether those values that underpin organic farming, in particular, also affect the interpretation of livestock welfare and, if so, how. While some of the issues raised in connection with organic farming are relatively uncontroversial, others are not. The introduction of organic farming values seems to introduce new criteria for what counts a good animal welfare, as well as a different ethical basis for taking moral decisions on welfare. Organic farming embodies distinctive systemic or communitarian ethical ideas and the organic values are connected to a systemic conception of nature, of agriculture, of the farm and of the animal. The new criteria of welfare are related to concepts such as naturalness, harmony, integrity and care. While the organic values overlap with those involved in the conventional discussion of animal welfare, some of them suggest a need to set new priorities and to re-conceptualise animal welfare – for example, with respect to 'naturalness', in relation to the possibilities for expression of natural behaviour and in relation to animal integrity as a concept for organismic harmony. The organic perspective also seems to suggest a wider range of solutions to welfare problems than changes in farm routines or operations on the animals. The systemic solutions include the choice and reproduction of suitable breeds, changes in the farm structure, and changes in the larger production and consumption system - including consumer perceptions and preferences. But the organic values may also call for sacrifices of individual welfare in a conventional sense in order to advance welfare from the perspective of organic farming. Whether this is good or bad cannot be decided without entering into an inquiry and discussion of the values and ethics involved

Opportunities and challenges for integrating dairy cattle into farms with certified organic pineapple production as perceived by smallholder farmers in Central Uganda

A study was conducted in 2013 to assess opportunities and challenges of integrating dairy cattle into organic pineapple production in Uganda. Thirty organic pineapple farmers were interviewed using a semistructured questionnaire. The main dairy cattle management systems were tethering (73%) and zero grazing (27%). Average landholding was 1.74 ± 1.06 and 3.75 ± 2.70 ha for zero grazing and tethering systems, respectively. All farms were diversified with various livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, and chickens and crops including pineapples, maize, coffee, bananas, beans, sweet potatoes, and cassava. The level of integration of dairy cattle into pineapple production depended on the distance of crop fields from the livestock enterprises. More farms (83%) with pineapple fields closer ( 0.5 km). The distance to the homestead did not influence 30% of the farmers who used crop residues for feeding dairy cattle. Farmers perceived cattle diseases and feed scarcity to be the major challenges in dairy farming. The sources of risk on the farms were perceived to be erratic rainfall, limited knowledge, and market for organic products. Majority of farmers (77%) expressed willingness to convert to organic dairy production. Availability of markets for organic dairy products (36%) and reduction of external input use (26%) were the main reasons for farmers’ willingness to convert. Integrating dairy cattle with pineapple production is an opportunity for closed nutrient cycles and income diversification. However, knowledge, access to inputs, and organized markets are needed as incentive for conversion to organic dairy production