Transitions to resilience and sustainability through UK dairy systems and supply chain innovation

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Impact goal: to develop and use a whole food system model to evaluate and then propose a range of dairy farming interventions that can increase the resilience and sustainability of production in the face of difficult to predict interactions between environmental, social and market forces. To achieve this goal, we will:
* Work with the dairy industry to identify cost-effective farm and food system-level interventions that can enact the principles contained in the Dairy 2020 Vision and the Leading the Way Sustainable Growth Plan and deliver measurable improvements in environmental sustainability and securing long-term milk supply
* Work with dairy farmers, the dairy industry and Government to develop scalable new pricing models based on Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) that can generate additional income for farmers whilst providing security of supply and protecting natural capital, in the context of the emerging post-Brexit agricultural policy regime in England and Scotland
* Combine empirical, experimental and monitoring in-situ and remote sensing to gather data on environmental impacts, animal health and milk yield to build a scientifically robust evidence base on the impacts, synergies and trade-offs of identified interventions on biodiversity, vegetation, soil, water, animal health and milk production
* Engage will innovators and influencers from business, government and the third sector to support the transformation of ecosystem management within the dairy supply chain, in Cumbria and Girvan, and across different commodities at a national and international scale
* Work with the devolved administrations, Defra (notably feeding into their forthcoming 25-year plans) and Third Sector to inform the development of food, farming and environmental policy relating to PES, natural capital and adapting to environmental change, and supporting Government's role in providing early warning of major, notifiable or new and emerging animal diseases in the diary sector

Engagement with the farming community: The research has been designed to build on, and work closely with, a significant and active programme of dairy farmer engagement that is being carried out by Nestle and its partners (Business in the Community (BiTC), Innovation for Agriculture, Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), Rivers Trusts (RTs)), in both study areas. This on-going programme - part of their 'Working With Nature' initiative - already involves an investment of around £2 million per year by Nestle in the form of milk price premiums paid to farmers carrying out land-based environmental interventions as part of the programme. This creates a guaranteed pool of 101 farmers, with whom we will have direct access for the research.

Engagement with the Global Food Security programme: the project team, led by the PI, will engage with ongoing and future activities of the GFS to ensure effective two-way knowledge exchange with GFS partners.

Planned engagement with other stakeholders via Advisory Group (roles and activities in Case for Support):
* Nestle UK&I (Andrew Griffiths)
* ASDA (Chris Brown) and Co-op (Sarah Wakefield)
* Arla (Richard Laxton), FirstMilk (Ian Critchley) and Dairycrest (Matt Bardell)
* Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (Gemma Cranston), N8 AgriFood (Katherine Denby/Jonathan Oxley)
* BiTC (Gudrun Cartwright/Katie Spooner), Innovation for Agriculture (David Gardner), GWCT (Alistair Leake), RTs (Alistair Maltby)
* Defra (Lucy Dorey-Robinson), Natural England (David Burton), Scottish Government (Nia Ball), Scottish Natural Heritage (Cecile Smith)

Complemented by a wider Reference Group regularly updated on project progress, including:
* Sainsbury's
* Tesco
* Waitrose
* M&S
* Unilever
* Wheatsheaf/Grosvenor Estate Farm
* Müller Milk & Ingredients
* Meadow Foods
* Danone
* Crown Estates
* Anglian Water, United Utilities and Scottish Water
* Volac
* Glanbia
* Yara
* Lactalis McLelland
* AH