Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BioSecure (Enhanced and cost-effective biosecurity in livestock production)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-01-01 al 2024-06-30
Keeping animals for food involves the risk of infectious diseases which might cause harm to animals, humans and the environment. Veterinary medicine aims to reduce the impact of animal diseases through prevention and treatment. However, antimicrobial usage should be reduced worldwide to combat antimicrobial resistance and therefore protecting animals against diseases and maintaining their health is crucial. To do so, the introduction and spread of pathogens into and on a farm should be prevented via the implementation of biosecurity measures.
Although, it has been proven that biosecurity measures benefit animal health, food production, food safety and biodiversity, the implementation of biosecurity in livestock production remains largely insufficient. Furthermore, current focus is mainly on the intensive, conventional livestock production leaving a knowledge gap for other farming systems such as extensive, pasture-based, low-input, or organic production of livestock. There is an urgency to better understand the need and feasibility of biosecurity measures in those systems.
Firstly, the effectiveness of specific biosecurity measures on the transmission routes of pathogens should be investigated further to make it possible to rank biosecurity measures by importance. Furthermore, existing information on biosecurity will be brought together and will be used to make models predicting the influence of biosecurity measures on the introduction and spread of diseases which can be used to help farmers understand the role of biosecurity. Besides this, field data will be collected on the implementation of biosecurity in different farm types and studies will be performed to better understand the effectiveness of certain, specific biosecurity measures.
Sustainable livestock production requires good biosecurity and optimal animal welfare, which do not always align. Within BIOSECURE conflicting and complementing aspects of biosecurity and animal welfare will be identified, solutions will be investigated and communicated to the relevant stakeholders to optimize biosecurity without compromising the welfare of the animals.
Implementing biosecurity measures on the farm is the responsibility of the farmer. Many human factors such as costs, workload, and perceived usefulness, influence the decision making in biosecurity. Motivators and barriers affect the implementation of biosecurity measures but knowledge to overcome those barriers is lacking. There is a high need for quantification of economic benefits of biosecurity measures and tools to motivate farmers. The cost and benefits of biosecurity measures will be investigated in the BIOSECURE project at farm level and at a larger sector level. This information, combined with the developed models and collected existing data will result in practical guidelines for famers on how to implement and prioritize biosecurity measures. At higher, sector level, policy scenarios will be provided to increase biosecurity at national level. Furthermore, the economic impact of those policy scenarios will be evaluated. BIOSECURE's ultimate goal is to improve the capacity of all livestock stakeholders to understand, prioritize and implement evidence-based, cost-effective and sustainable biosecurity management systems in current and future terrestrial livestock production.
Although, it has been proven that biosecurity measures benefit animal health, food production, food safety and biodiversity, the implementation of biosecurity in livestock production remains largely insufficient. Furthermore, current focus is mainly on the intensive, conventional livestock production leaving a knowledge gap for other farming systems such as extensive, pasture-based, low-input, or organic production of livestock. There is an urgency to better understand the need and feasibility of biosecurity measures in those systems.
Firstly, the effectiveness of specific biosecurity measures on the transmission routes of pathogens should be investigated further to make it possible to rank biosecurity measures by importance. Furthermore, existing information on biosecurity will be brought together and will be used to make models predicting the influence of biosecurity measures on the introduction and spread of diseases which can be used to help farmers understand the role of biosecurity. Besides this, field data will be collected on the implementation of biosecurity in different farm types and studies will be performed to better understand the effectiveness of certain, specific biosecurity measures.
Sustainable livestock production requires good biosecurity and optimal animal welfare, which do not always align. Within BIOSECURE conflicting and complementing aspects of biosecurity and animal welfare will be identified, solutions will be investigated and communicated to the relevant stakeholders to optimize biosecurity without compromising the welfare of the animals.
Implementing biosecurity measures on the farm is the responsibility of the farmer. Many human factors such as costs, workload, and perceived usefulness, influence the decision making in biosecurity. Motivators and barriers affect the implementation of biosecurity measures but knowledge to overcome those barriers is lacking. There is a high need for quantification of economic benefits of biosecurity measures and tools to motivate farmers. The cost and benefits of biosecurity measures will be investigated in the BIOSECURE project at farm level and at a larger sector level. This information, combined with the developed models and collected existing data will result in practical guidelines for famers on how to implement and prioritize biosecurity measures. At higher, sector level, policy scenarios will be provided to increase biosecurity at national level. Furthermore, the economic impact of those policy scenarios will be evaluated. BIOSECURE's ultimate goal is to improve the capacity of all livestock stakeholders to understand, prioritize and implement evidence-based, cost-effective and sustainable biosecurity management systems in current and future terrestrial livestock production.
At national level the relevant stakeholders in the livestock production were identified. The stakeholder network can be contacted by the project partners to get feedback from the field, insights and co-create project output. The stakeholders were already consulted to prioritize diseases and to investigate their attitude towards biosecurity.
A large database was created with parameters of 17 diseases that is used by other partners to create the transmission models. Furthermore, on the project website a dynamic and accessible ‘Biosecurity Application Database’ was built giving an overview of instances and tools collecting data on the implementation of biosecurity in the livestock production in Europe (https://biosecure.eu/compliance-database/(si apre in una nuova finestra)). Besides, existing data on disease outbreaks, wild animal population, climate, etc. was combined to produce a first draft of a European biosecurity risk map.
To demonstrate the relative importance of specific biosecurity measures, risk assessment models are drafted to quantify how the implementation of certain external and internal biosecurity measures will reduce the probability that a specific pathogen is introduced on a farm or will influence the spread of a pathogen within the farm. Furthermore, in areas infected with epidemic diseases such as African Swine fever, farm-to-farm spread is a risk and models were drafted to model the impact of for example the wild boar population on this spread.
Three new biosecurity quantification tools were developed and were used together with the already existing once (https://biocheckgent.com/en/surveys(si apre in una nuova finestra)) to assess the implementation of biosecurity measures on 360 farms including extensive, outdoor farming systems. The protocols that will be used to test the efficacy of different biosecurity measures on farms were developed, aligned among partners and validated. Furthermore, the design of the intervention studies to improve the biosecurity on the farms was prepared together with data collection templates. The interventions itself will start in July 2024.
To evaluate the costs and the economic effects of implementing biosecurity measures a literature search to collect information has been done so far and preparatory steps to develop the guidelines and policy scenarios were taken.
A large database was created with parameters of 17 diseases that is used by other partners to create the transmission models. Furthermore, on the project website a dynamic and accessible ‘Biosecurity Application Database’ was built giving an overview of instances and tools collecting data on the implementation of biosecurity in the livestock production in Europe (https://biosecure.eu/compliance-database/(si apre in una nuova finestra)). Besides, existing data on disease outbreaks, wild animal population, climate, etc. was combined to produce a first draft of a European biosecurity risk map.
To demonstrate the relative importance of specific biosecurity measures, risk assessment models are drafted to quantify how the implementation of certain external and internal biosecurity measures will reduce the probability that a specific pathogen is introduced on a farm or will influence the spread of a pathogen within the farm. Furthermore, in areas infected with epidemic diseases such as African Swine fever, farm-to-farm spread is a risk and models were drafted to model the impact of for example the wild boar population on this spread.
Three new biosecurity quantification tools were developed and were used together with the already existing once (https://biocheckgent.com/en/surveys(si apre in una nuova finestra)) to assess the implementation of biosecurity measures on 360 farms including extensive, outdoor farming systems. The protocols that will be used to test the efficacy of different biosecurity measures on farms were developed, aligned among partners and validated. Furthermore, the design of the intervention studies to improve the biosecurity on the farms was prepared together with data collection templates. The interventions itself will start in July 2024.
To evaluate the costs and the economic effects of implementing biosecurity measures a literature search to collect information has been done so far and preparatory steps to develop the guidelines and policy scenarios were taken.
The project will create output that remains useful beyond its duration, positively influencing the biosecurity levels on farms. So far, three new Biocheck.Ugent surveys have been developed. Those surveys are freely available online and can be used by all stakeholders to quantify the level of biosecurity on farms. Furthermore, the first steps are taken in the development of models that will prioritize the external and internal biosecurity measures with the greatest impact on preventing the introduction and spread of certain diseases. Those models will be used in practice as a supportive measure to increase biosecurity.