Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PATHWAYS (Pathways for transitions to sustainability in livestock husbandry and food systems)
Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2024-08-31
The core aim of PATHWAYS is the delivery of policy pathways towards sustainable livestock production systems in Europe, while respecting planetary boundaries. PATHWAYS adopts a participatory approach to create a sense of ownership and ensure proposed practices and solutions are meaningful for practitioners in the field. Based on visions for animal production in 2050 by farmers and European stakeholders, PATHWAYS develops scenarios of different livestock futures. These scenarios are assessed for their performance and trade-offs against a sustainability evaluation framework which is informed by a range of sustainability assessments. This framework includes characterising current European livestock production systems, as a baseline to evaluate the impact of improving livestock management practices, and providing new indicators to better capture animal welfare, biodiversity and emission improvements. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methods for livestock systems will be further developed to include impacts on GHGs, biodiversity, animal welfare, crop-livestock interactions and feed-food competitions as well as nutritional characteristics and social wellbeing. Furthermore, the project is assessing the extent to which livestock production systems can promote a circular bioeconomy and ecosystem service delivery across different spatial scales. By analysing the European livestock value chains for the physical flows, actors involved, power dynamics and sustainability performance, PATHWAYS is able to specifically target different stages of the value chain when proposing pathways for sustainable futures. To explore consumer expectations and sustainability concerns related to animal production, PATHWAYS evaluates the proportions of different consumer types and their motivations for decreasing levels of animal protein in diets, as well as consumers’ mind sets and willingness to pay for sustainable livestock production. To ensure future diets are nutritionally balanced, the project calculates the nutrient intake for different “food baskets” for different groups of people. Additionally, possible trade-offs between nutritional needs and environmental impacts will be assessed. The PATHWAYS knowledge exchange, dissemination, and transfer of outcomes’ is facilitating the dialogue between a range of stakeholders to promote the flow of knowledge on potential developments in livestock food systems.
In the first 36 months of the PATHWAYS project, significant advancements were made in developing sustainable visions and actionable scenarios for the European livestock sector, integrating input from farmers, stakeholders, and researchers. Initially, the participatory approach engaged Practice Hubs (groups of farmers across 16 innovative case studies) and the Multi-Actor Platform (MAP), comprising livestock sector stakeholders from policy, NGOs, and research. This engagement led to sustainable visions for livestock systems in 2050. MAP members participated in scenario development workshops that refined these visions into five storylines. Building on these foundations, the second reporting period focused on translating these visions into detailed scenarios and advancing a Holistic Policy and Innovation Evaluation Framework to assess livestock sustainability, including animal welfare, biodiversity, and emission indicators. Practice Hubs continued their involvement through knowledge-sharing sessions and Living Labs, where innovations are being explored to address sector challenges, fostering co-innovation. Early PATHWAYS findings were presented at the Sustainable Food Forum in Brussels in 2024, showcasing sustainable livestock solutions.
The policy evaluation framework was strengthened through national policy analyses and consultations in Spain, the UK, and Denmark. Scenario modelling advanced with MAGNET-based analyses of "Stock-free" and "Efficiency First" scenarios, identifying trade-offs and synergies crucial for guiding transitions. Livestock system characterisations were refined with data from FADN, Eurostat, and experts, preparing for future assessments, while animal welfare and biodiversity indicators were identified through reviews and consultations. Cross-European consumer surveys and the development of “Foodbasket7” software linked nutritional and environmental data to assess weekly food basket impacts. Harmonised Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies led to a framework for cross-scale assessments of livestock system impacts, including GHG emissions, biodiversity, and animal welfare, while LCAs and economic analyses were completed for Practice Hubs in Sweden, Germany, France, Poland, Romania, and the UK.
Development of the Geo-SOL model integrated ecosystem services and circularity metrics in livestock systems, with baseline data established for carrying capacity assessments. Sustainability metrics for livestock value chains were refined through Delphi methods, identifying key socioeconomic indicators and developing transformative metrics aligned with planetary boundaries. The project website was further developed by consolidating resources for stakeholder engagement and findings dissemination. Quarterly seminars and the Early Career Researcher Immersion Programme further facilitated knowledge exchange. PATHWAYS continued disseminating findings through outreach, with growing website engagement and social media presence. Project coordination ensured compliance with EC requirements, while all ethics standards were fully met.
The policy evaluation framework was strengthened through national policy analyses and consultations in Spain, the UK, and Denmark. Scenario modelling advanced with MAGNET-based analyses of "Stock-free" and "Efficiency First" scenarios, identifying trade-offs and synergies crucial for guiding transitions. Livestock system characterisations were refined with data from FADN, Eurostat, and experts, preparing for future assessments, while animal welfare and biodiversity indicators were identified through reviews and consultations. Cross-European consumer surveys and the development of “Foodbasket7” software linked nutritional and environmental data to assess weekly food basket impacts. Harmonised Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies led to a framework for cross-scale assessments of livestock system impacts, including GHG emissions, biodiversity, and animal welfare, while LCAs and economic analyses were completed for Practice Hubs in Sweden, Germany, France, Poland, Romania, and the UK.
Development of the Geo-SOL model integrated ecosystem services and circularity metrics in livestock systems, with baseline data established for carrying capacity assessments. Sustainability metrics for livestock value chains were refined through Delphi methods, identifying key socioeconomic indicators and developing transformative metrics aligned with planetary boundaries. The project website was further developed by consolidating resources for stakeholder engagement and findings dissemination. Quarterly seminars and the Early Career Researcher Immersion Programme further facilitated knowledge exchange. PATHWAYS continued disseminating findings through outreach, with growing website engagement and social media presence. Project coordination ensured compliance with EC requirements, while all ethics standards were fully met.
While the participatory approach is challenging, it has enormous potential for triggering sustainable changes in the European livestock sector. PATHWAYS contributes to unlock this potential through its work in farmer Practice Hubs, each of which is organised by teams of trained facilitators an industry partners, and a Multi-actor platform of stakeholders of the European livestock sector. PATHWAYS is also developing a sustainability assessment framework, which will enable the project to analyse different scenarios of a European livestock future against a set of environmental, social and economic criteria as well as policy targets. For this purpose, PATHWAYS, for the first time, defines the baseline impacts of current livestock husbandry systems.The development of new indicators (i.e. Tier 3 GHG emission factors than can capture more details of management systems) as well as the improvement of LCA methods will allow to better assess economic, environmental and social performance of current and innovative livestock systems, as well as the feasibility of different technical improvements. This will be accompanied by novel and complementary sustainability metrics through the GEO-Sol model, which at its current stage will allow the project to assess the contribution of livestock to circular landscapes and the extent to which livestock husbandry systems contribute to eutrophication and biodiversity loss. Additionally, mapping the physical flows of livestock value chains and reviewing existing value chain sustainability frameworks helps to establish a robust scientific background for the design of sustainability assessment metrics tailored specifically to livestock value chains. Reviewing evidence on the impacts of policies on different livestock systems with regards to different sustainability criteria and system change approaches helps to understand the nature, scale and potential for change towards greater sustainability in the livestock sector.