Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SPARC (SPARC –Sustainable Parasite Control in Grazing Ruminants)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-02-01 al 2025-07-31
Ruminant farming plays a vital role in Europe’s food security, rural environments and communities. However, grazing animals such as cattle, sheep, and goats are continuously exposed to parasitic worms, which pose serious risks to their health, welfare, and productivity. For decades, farmers have relied on the preventive use of anthelmintic drugs to control these parasites. While effective in the short term, the widespread and often excessive use of these treatments has led to the escalating spread of anthelmintic resistance – a growing global threat that jeopardizes animal health, farm incomes, and the long-term sustainability of grass-based livestock systems.
The EU-funded SPARC project (Sustainable Parasite Control in Grazing Ruminants) addresses this urgent challenge by fostering a European-wide shift toward sustainable worm control (SWC) strategies. Instead of relying solely on drugs, SPARC promotes innovative and integrated approaches that combine good farming practices, diagnostics, targeted treatments, complementary approaches such as plant-based control and improved decision-making tools.
The overall goal of SPARC is to establish an active multi-actor thematic network across the EU and UK, bringing together stakeholders interested in sustainable worm control. These include farmers, veterinarians, other farm advisors, SPARC project partners, researchers, farmer, veterinary and advisory organisations, producers of (para)pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, diagnostic labs, governmental agencies, other organisations across the livestock production value chain. Throughout the network, easily accessible practice-oriented knowledge will be collected and widely disseminated; examples are best practices, tools, research findings and (existing) innovative solutions on sustainable worm control that are ready to be put into practice, but not sufficiently known or used by practitioners. The aim is to increase the performance and the resilience of ruminant livestock farms by improving (1) animal health and welfare on the farms; (2) economic performance, and (3) the environmental sustainability of the sector.
The project examines behavioural, cultural, and socio-economic factors that influence farmers’ decisions around worm control. These insights are critical to designing approaches that are not only scientifically sound but also practical, acceptable, and widely adopted.
The expected impacts of SPARC are:
1. Animal health and welfare – reducing the burden of parasitic diseases while ensuring responsible use of medicines.
2. Environmental sustainability – lowering drug residues in soils and water and contributing to the green transition of agriculture.
3. Economic resilience – supporting farmers with strategies that sustain productivity and reduce dependence on costly treatments.
4. Production efficiency and quality - knowledge transfer with the support of new digital technologies (platforms, apps, algorithms) as key facilitators.
5. Social innovation – strengthening collaboration between farmers, advisors, and researchers in a lasting multi-actor community of practice.
By combining science, practice, and stakeholder engagement, SPARC aims to curb the spread of anthelmintic resistance and ensure healthier animals, more resilient farming systems, and sustainable food production across Europe.
The EU-funded SPARC project (Sustainable Parasite Control in Grazing Ruminants) addresses this urgent challenge by fostering a European-wide shift toward sustainable worm control (SWC) strategies. Instead of relying solely on drugs, SPARC promotes innovative and integrated approaches that combine good farming practices, diagnostics, targeted treatments, complementary approaches such as plant-based control and improved decision-making tools.
The overall goal of SPARC is to establish an active multi-actor thematic network across the EU and UK, bringing together stakeholders interested in sustainable worm control. These include farmers, veterinarians, other farm advisors, SPARC project partners, researchers, farmer, veterinary and advisory organisations, producers of (para)pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, diagnostic labs, governmental agencies, other organisations across the livestock production value chain. Throughout the network, easily accessible practice-oriented knowledge will be collected and widely disseminated; examples are best practices, tools, research findings and (existing) innovative solutions on sustainable worm control that are ready to be put into practice, but not sufficiently known or used by practitioners. The aim is to increase the performance and the resilience of ruminant livestock farms by improving (1) animal health and welfare on the farms; (2) economic performance, and (3) the environmental sustainability of the sector.
The project examines behavioural, cultural, and socio-economic factors that influence farmers’ decisions around worm control. These insights are critical to designing approaches that are not only scientifically sound but also practical, acceptable, and widely adopted.
The expected impacts of SPARC are:
1. Animal health and welfare – reducing the burden of parasitic diseases while ensuring responsible use of medicines.
2. Environmental sustainability – lowering drug residues in soils and water and contributing to the green transition of agriculture.
3. Economic resilience – supporting farmers with strategies that sustain productivity and reduce dependence on costly treatments.
4. Production efficiency and quality - knowledge transfer with the support of new digital technologies (platforms, apps, algorithms) as key facilitators.
5. Social innovation – strengthening collaboration between farmers, advisors, and researchers in a lasting multi-actor community of practice.
By combining science, practice, and stakeholder engagement, SPARC aims to curb the spread of anthelmintic resistance and ensure healthier animals, more resilient farming systems, and sustainable food production across Europe.
The main activities performed during the ongoing EU-funded SPARC project are:
• Building and mobilizing networks of stakeholders (Communities of Practice) – including farmers, veterinarians, advisors, and researchers – to exchange knowledge at national and European level.
• Identifying farmer and advisor (e.g. veterinarians) needs and understand barriers and drivers for adopting sustainable worm control across diverse production systems.
• Collecting, developing and sharing a set of easily accessible practice-oriented good practices for SWC tailored to beef and dairy cattle, meat and dairy sheep, and goats in different regions of Europe.
• Demonstrating and validating these practices on pilot farms, showing their benefits for animal health, farm profitability, and reduced drug use.
• Providing accessible tools and resources through a Knowledge Exchange Platform on the www.wormsparc.com website, with practice abstracts, case studies, testimonies, videos, and decision-support tools available in multiple languages.
• Communicating, disseminating and exploiting (CDE) the project results through the execution of a comprehensive CDE strategy.
• Building and mobilizing networks of stakeholders (Communities of Practice) – including farmers, veterinarians, advisors, and researchers – to exchange knowledge at national and European level.
• Identifying farmer and advisor (e.g. veterinarians) needs and understand barriers and drivers for adopting sustainable worm control across diverse production systems.
• Collecting, developing and sharing a set of easily accessible practice-oriented good practices for SWC tailored to beef and dairy cattle, meat and dairy sheep, and goats in different regions of Europe.
• Demonstrating and validating these practices on pilot farms, showing their benefits for animal health, farm profitability, and reduced drug use.
• Providing accessible tools and resources through a Knowledge Exchange Platform on the www.wormsparc.com website, with practice abstracts, case studies, testimonies, videos, and decision-support tools available in multiple languages.
• Communicating, disseminating and exploiting (CDE) the project results through the execution of a comprehensive CDE strategy.
Farmers, veterinarians and farm advisors in the field today often lack clear, practical, and trusted alternatives that balance animal health, productivity, and sustainability.
The SPARC project goes beyond the state of the art by introducing innovations at several levels:
1. Integrated Sustainable Worm Control (SWC) Strategies combining pasture management, breeding for resilience, plant-based control, diagnostics, and decision-support tools into integrated packages adapted to diverse production systems. Moving towards targeted and/or selective worm control methods, using animal, herd-, and pasture-level indicators to guide treatment decisions.
2. Farmer-Centered Innovation: SPARC places farmers and advisors at the core of the project. By understanding social, cultural, and economic drivers of decision-making, the project ensures that solutions are practical, acceptable, and widely adoptable by the people in the field.
3. Knowledge Exchange and Digital Tools: SPARC will deliver a multi-language Knowledge Exchange Platform with case studies, video testimonies, and interactive tools, allowing rapid dissemination of good practices across Europe. This platform goes beyond existing fragmented resources by integrating scientific knowledge, farm demonstrations, and user experiences in one accessible hub.
4. Evidence-Based Policy and Sectoral Impact: The project will validate the effects of several SWC strategies, monitoring drug use, animal health and welfare, and farm-level profitability. These results will help shape policy frameworks supporting sustainable livestock practices and antimicrobial resistance strategies at the European level.
5. Long-Term Legacy: By creating lasting stakeholder networks and Communities of Practice, SPARC ensures that its innovations endure beyond the project’s lifetime, embedding SWC as the new standard in ruminant parasite control.
In short, SPARC’s results go beyond the state of the art by shifting worm control from a drug-dependent system to a sustainable, integrated, and socially informed approach that combines science, practice, and farmer engagement.
The SPARC project goes beyond the state of the art by introducing innovations at several levels:
1. Integrated Sustainable Worm Control (SWC) Strategies combining pasture management, breeding for resilience, plant-based control, diagnostics, and decision-support tools into integrated packages adapted to diverse production systems. Moving towards targeted and/or selective worm control methods, using animal, herd-, and pasture-level indicators to guide treatment decisions.
2. Farmer-Centered Innovation: SPARC places farmers and advisors at the core of the project. By understanding social, cultural, and economic drivers of decision-making, the project ensures that solutions are practical, acceptable, and widely adoptable by the people in the field.
3. Knowledge Exchange and Digital Tools: SPARC will deliver a multi-language Knowledge Exchange Platform with case studies, video testimonies, and interactive tools, allowing rapid dissemination of good practices across Europe. This platform goes beyond existing fragmented resources by integrating scientific knowledge, farm demonstrations, and user experiences in one accessible hub.
4. Evidence-Based Policy and Sectoral Impact: The project will validate the effects of several SWC strategies, monitoring drug use, animal health and welfare, and farm-level profitability. These results will help shape policy frameworks supporting sustainable livestock practices and antimicrobial resistance strategies at the European level.
5. Long-Term Legacy: By creating lasting stakeholder networks and Communities of Practice, SPARC ensures that its innovations endure beyond the project’s lifetime, embedding SWC as the new standard in ruminant parasite control.
In short, SPARC’s results go beyond the state of the art by shifting worm control from a drug-dependent system to a sustainable, integrated, and socially informed approach that combines science, practice, and farmer engagement.