Periodic Reporting for period 3 - NETPOULSAFE (Networking European poultry actors for enhancing the compliance of biosecurity measures for a sustainable production)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-07-01 al 2024-03-31
Recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza have highlighted the sensitivity of the European poultry sector to epidemics and the need to significantly strengthen biosecurity practices compliance. In recent years, interest in biosecurity has increased due to the expansion of trade in goods, food, plants and animals, increased international travel, and new outbreaks of transboundary diseases. Public awareness on biodiversity and the environment has increased and greater attention is being paid to the impact of agriculture on its long-term future. This underlines the importance of having appropriate biosafety capacity, including that measures are observed by the commodity chains. More specifically, regulatory bodies need to support practitioners (farmers and operators of the whole value chain, from hatcheries to slaughterhouses) for better biosecurity compliance. Given the complexity of the challenge, dealing with all dimensions of the production chain (public safety, economic, as well as environmental), and at multiple scales (local, regional, national and international), a holistic and multi-actor approach of the European poultry production chain is needed.
The NETPOULSAFE project collect, synthesize and disseminate the available information (bottom-up knowledge transfer) and report on the positive feedback from the supporting measures (SMs) implemented by poultry operators to support biosecurity compliance (top-down and peer-to-peer knowledge transfer). It has been designed to answer the most urgent needs of EU poultry farmers around the following objectives:
• Create a self-sustainable network of National poultry AKIS, representative of the European production systems
• Analyse the effective implementation of biosecurity practices in the different European production systems at local scale to identify relevant, tailored and viable knowledge and best practices
• Analyse and select the most effective SMs for ensuring biosecurity compliance, adapted to each National poultry AKIS
• Validate a set of key SMs on pilot farms to provide evidence of their impacts
• To widely and efficiently disseminate tailored best practices to all stakeholders for ensuring biosecurity practices acceptance, ownership and compliance
During the 3.5 years of the project, we brought together 3379 biosecurity stakeholders in 7 AKIS. By selecting and testing the best SMs for poultry farmers, we helped 130 pilot farms in Europe to improve their biosecurity. Thanks to coaching, discussion groups and biosecurity training courses, 70% of the pilot farms improved their practices, proving the usefulness of SMs on the field. Best biosecurity and SMs have been translated and disseminated through 163 resources.
The NETPOULSAFE project collect, synthesize and disseminate the available information (bottom-up knowledge transfer) and report on the positive feedback from the supporting measures (SMs) implemented by poultry operators to support biosecurity compliance (top-down and peer-to-peer knowledge transfer). It has been designed to answer the most urgent needs of EU poultry farmers around the following objectives:
• Create a self-sustainable network of National poultry AKIS, representative of the European production systems
• Analyse the effective implementation of biosecurity practices in the different European production systems at local scale to identify relevant, tailored and viable knowledge and best practices
• Analyse and select the most effective SMs for ensuring biosecurity compliance, adapted to each National poultry AKIS
• Validate a set of key SMs on pilot farms to provide evidence of their impacts
• To widely and efficiently disseminate tailored best practices to all stakeholders for ensuring biosecurity practices acceptance, ownership and compliance
During the 3.5 years of the project, we brought together 3379 biosecurity stakeholders in 7 AKIS. By selecting and testing the best SMs for poultry farmers, we helped 130 pilot farms in Europe to improve their biosecurity. Thanks to coaching, discussion groups and biosecurity training courses, 70% of the pilot farms improved their practices, proving the usefulness of SMs on the field. Best biosecurity and SMs have been translated and disseminated through 163 resources.
Poultry stakeholders were recruited in 7 national AKIS through pilot farm activities, creation and sharing of dissemination material and C&D activities. We linked with other biosecurity and AKIS related EU project to co-construct on biosecurity compliance and SMs. Interviewing those stakeholders allowed to create a report of biosecurity practices on the field, with the actual observance of biosecurity measures in the different poultry productions, to better understand the reasons of non-implementation of some biosecurity measures. A global analysis of existing or needed SMs helped us to choose the best ones to test and validate in pilot farms. 2 published scientific articles give a state of the art of 'on-field' practices and necessary SMs to implement, according to poultry stakeholders.
To challenge and validate SMs, tools and methods have been developed :
• online 'Biocheck.ugent' biosecurity scoring tools for poultry, translated in native language of all participating countries
• a bottom-up approach through the use of 'ADKAR' method adapted to biosecurity to help the farmers.
The SMs tested in 130 pilot farms and the technico-economical data linked to biosecurity changes have been analysed, providing a report on cost-efficiency of such measures. They led to 70% of farms improving biosecurity practices, attitudes and satisfaction even during Avian Influenza crisis. The study shows that biosecurity changes don't necessarily require a lot of time and money and encourage the use of the tested SMs on the field. 3 scientific publications on the methodology and results are published.
Collected data served as resources for the creation of 163 dissemination materials in the 7 languages of the consortium (factsheets, EIP-AGRI PAs, MOOCs, handbook, videos, podcasts, articles). They were uploaded on the knowledge reservoir, YouTube and EU Farm Book for sustainability, and shared through the project and partners media channels. These C&D channels, both global and specific to each country were identified, created at the beginning of the project and used for dissemination. Project activities and results were shared through 316 events, conferences, webinars, trainings on national and international level. To conclude the NetPoulSafe project, a Final Conference was organised as a joint meeting with the COST BETTER Action, another biosecurity related EU project gathering a large number of biosecurity experts.
To challenge and validate SMs, tools and methods have been developed :
• online 'Biocheck.ugent' biosecurity scoring tools for poultry, translated in native language of all participating countries
• a bottom-up approach through the use of 'ADKAR' method adapted to biosecurity to help the farmers.
The SMs tested in 130 pilot farms and the technico-economical data linked to biosecurity changes have been analysed, providing a report on cost-efficiency of such measures. They led to 70% of farms improving biosecurity practices, attitudes and satisfaction even during Avian Influenza crisis. The study shows that biosecurity changes don't necessarily require a lot of time and money and encourage the use of the tested SMs on the field. 3 scientific publications on the methodology and results are published.
Collected data served as resources for the creation of 163 dissemination materials in the 7 languages of the consortium (factsheets, EIP-AGRI PAs, MOOCs, handbook, videos, podcasts, articles). They were uploaded on the knowledge reservoir, YouTube and EU Farm Book for sustainability, and shared through the project and partners media channels. These C&D channels, both global and specific to each country were identified, created at the beginning of the project and used for dissemination. Project activities and results were shared through 316 events, conferences, webinars, trainings on national and international level. To conclude the NetPoulSafe project, a Final Conference was organised as a joint meeting with the COST BETTER Action, another biosecurity related EU project gathering a large number of biosecurity experts.
The project developed innovative and practical methodologies that proved efficient to improve biosecurity compliance and address the on-field challenges faced by poultry farmers. The 'Biocheck.ugent' tool for poultry has already been used worldwide and is still being disseminated, providing farmers and advisors with an accessible and effective way to assess their practices. Our SMs empowered farmers by involving them directly in the process of improving biosecurity. Through our work on field surveys and SMs in pilot farms, we were able to demonstrate the value of alternative approaches to usual biosecurity audits that can lead to ineffective and short-lived compliance. We focused on knowledge dissemination and practicioners trainings, particularly advisors and sanitary veterinarians within governmental institutions. The knowledge we’ve collected and shared has already generated significant interest among advisors, farmers and studends, many of whom participated in our MOOCs, training programs (e.g. summer school, courses at universities for students as future advisors, trainings and conferences). The collected knowledge have been disseminated to be used during counselling and audits, even after the end of the project to ensure real changes on the field. These trainings will continue after the project’s end, increasing the use of alternative SMs by advisors amang with usual audits and better biosecurity levels. All data, from the on-field biosecurity practices to the the cost-benefit analysis of SMs, encourages poultry experts, researchers and policy makers to keep working on improving support for poultry stakeholders and ensuring a better general protection against diseases.
The 3379 stakeholders in our AKIS allowed to stimulate knowledge exchange, supporting crossfertilization and link with national and EU R&I landscape. These networks allowed to connect stakeholders and work together, and will keep on living through new national and EU projects (e.i. COST BETTER). The collaboration with other EU projects ensured the sustainability of NetPoulSafe's network and results and provided an opportunity to discuss the implications of the findings and shape future R&I on the subject, grounded in real-world applications.
The 3379 stakeholders in our AKIS allowed to stimulate knowledge exchange, supporting crossfertilization and link with national and EU R&I landscape. These networks allowed to connect stakeholders and work together, and will keep on living through new national and EU projects (e.i. COST BETTER). The collaboration with other EU projects ensured the sustainability of NetPoulSafe's network and results and provided an opportunity to discuss the implications of the findings and shape future R&I on the subject, grounded in real-world applications.