Practice Hubs

Supporting holistic evaluation

PATHWAYS designs future scenarios and pathways for sustainable livestock husbandry and food systems by facilitating dialogues with farmers in Practice Hubs all over Europe.

In these national Practice Hubs, farmers discuss ideas and innovations, are given the option of testing innovations in Living Labs and feed their ideas to other stakeholders from farm to fork to support sustainable livestock production and consumption.

Legend

100% pasture-fed cow-calf dairy systems

The Practice Hub puts animal welfare and harmonious integration of livestock into their farming systems at the centre of their preoccupation. It has developed own voluntary standards beyond EU/Demeter organic that include among others that all young animals are reared in a mother-calf-rearing system.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Niche and organic

Size

20

Innovation Interests
  • Techniques and ways to establish on-farm slaughtering
  • Market access for animal friendly meat
Industry partner
Facilitator

Management for maximisation of carbon sequestration in pasture

The farmers of this Practice Hub are unacquainted and focused on management of carbon in grasslands. Calves on grass in 2-3 farms.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Niche, Grass Based System

Size

19

Innovation Interests
  • Carbon sequestration in permanent and temporal grassland
  • How to increase grazing intake with climate change = Less grass in dry summers – how to manage grass growth during autumn and winter
Industry partner
Facilitator

Dairy in agroforestry system for self-sufficiency in protein-based feed

In mountain areas with high biodiversity and ecological resilience, social problems are set to be resolved with sustainable agriculture systems.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Niche, Extensive

Size

15-20

Innovation Interests
  • Quality products
  • Market organising aspects
  • Environmental benefits
  • Carbon sequestration, biodiversity
  • Diversification activities
  • Organic production
Industry partner
Facilitator

More-from-less dairy systems utilising on-farm advice and carbon foot-printing tool

This Practice Hub is a new group, but several people knew each other beforehand. The focus of the hub is to use tools to evaluate the environmental, social and economic aspects of the farms to further understand opportunities to improve the sustainability performance. Skilled entrepreneurs, who are curious, and happy to discuss with others.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Mainstream, Intensive

Size

7

Innovation Interests
  • Animal welfare in large herds
  • Increasing efficiency – more from less
  • Sustainable feed
  • Renewable energy
  • Optimal use of NPK
Industry partner
Facilitator

Conventional pig farm utilising manure for biogas

This Practice Hub involves innovation from cooperative Cooperl for the management of pig slurry with frequent removal from building and separation liquid/solid. And use of solid in biogas unit with transformation of the digestant in fertiliser.

OECD Area of Innovation

Products

System Type

Intensive, Niche

Size

100

Innovation Interests
  • Circular economy
  • Reduction of NH3, GHG
  • Renewable production of mineral fertilizer
Industry partner
Facilitator

Green protein for pig farming

Young and old innovative organic pig farmers, interesting breeding including trees in the paddocks, feeding with green protein and sustainability. Organic farmers utilising “green-protein” from grass/clover working with feed company and refinery.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Organic, Niche

Size

3

Innovation Interests
  • Animal welfare
  • More time outdoors
  • % castration
  • More trees
  • Regulation / solar cells; new buildings
Industry partner
Facilitator

Conventional pig production with innovative flooring and biodiversity focus

The Practice Hub members from Krullvarken (Curly Tail Pig) farming have been active for 20 years.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Intensive, Niche

Size

17

Innovation Interests
  • Closed cycles – how to better utilize and get more value from solid manure
  • Human food waste for pig feed
  • Maximising the use of data on farm
  • Balancing meat quality with the use of circular feed
  • Society’s/consumers’ willingness to pay for circular feed
  • Rest materials from nature that can be used as bedding material
  • How to improve marketing
  • Animal welfare, emissions, CO2 foot printing
Industry partner
Facilitator

100% pasture-fed beef systems utilising holistic planned grazing management

This Practice Hub’s members are either certified or on way to certification of Pasture for Life; all based in South England and Wales (lowland), with a huge range of backgrounds and skills.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Niche

Size

14

Innovation Interests
  • 100% pasture fed beef
  • Holistic planned grazing for the land, animal and farmer
Industry partner
Facilitator

New breeding methodology for “mountain pasture” with own certification/label development

This Practice Hub is based on the existing Italian Grassfed Association. Farmers are very much engaged in the system, but were mainly focused on what is wrong with public authority, policy, etc. The association extended to sheep and goat but remains mostly beef.

OECD Area of Innovation

Marketing

System Type

Mainstream, Extensive

Size

20

Innovation Interests
  • Traceability
  • Block chains
Industry partner
Facilitator

Quality assured production system for beef and sheep on high nature value semi-natural pastures together with label development

Naturbeteskött, an NGO with members who are farmers, consumers, and industry representatives, all with an interest in producing, marketing and consuming beef and lamb producers from semi-natural grasslands. This practice hub showcases grazing on high nature value (HNV) grasslands. The NGO promotes quality assured pasture beef and lamb through existing third-party certification.

OECD Area of Innovation
  • Production techniques
  • Marketing added value
System Type
  • Medium, Niche
  • Conventional and/or organic is optional
Size

8-10

Innovation Interests
  • Sustainable meat production that brings biodiversity to the table
  • Market access
Industry partner
Facilitator

Agri-tech poultry innovation for improved food safety and quality

This Practice Hub is based on poultry farms, focusing on the implementation of a food traceability system as a tool to enable the ongoing monitoring of efficiency and environmental indicators, including a carbon footprint, and to allow farmers to get better prices for the products.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Mainstream and Organic Production

Size

11

Innovation Interests
  • Improving food safety and quality
  • Increasing consumer trust
  • Improving climate footprint of production
  • Connectivity
  • Impact of animal production
Industry partner
Facilitator

Farmer cooperative producing and sharing compost from plant-based litter

This Practice Hub involves the cooperative Fertil’Eveil that created a composting plant back in 2007. In 2011, they started a litter production plant to standardise and integrate the composting process. In 2018, they opened a second composting platform and in 2022, a third.

OECD Area of Innovation

Products

System Type

Niche, Intensive

Size

150

Innovation Interests
  • Assess the impact of the litter (welfare, etc.)
  • Assess the impact of the composting process on soil
  • Better nutrient management
Industry partner
Facilitator

Closed-loop egg production by feeding food processing waste and recycling manure

This Practice Hub consists of innovative farmers that aim to produce eggs within societal boundaries by applying new methods and approaches.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production technique

System Type

Mainstream, Intensive

Size

3

Innovation Interests
  • Circularity
  • Emotions of animals
  • Consumer interests
  • Business model including circularity, animal welfare and consumer interests
Industry partner
Facilitator

Dehesa Mediterranean system of sheep rearing in silvopasture with different input levels

This Practice Hub involves Corsevilla, a cooperative in the southwest of Spain that collects sheep and lambs from farms and commercialises them. This hub is focused on Dehesa sheep with different input levels.

OECD Area of Innovation

Marketing

System Type

Niche, Extensive

Size

8-9

Innovation Interests

Reduce health issues (respiratory/digestive during the early in life)

Industry partner
Facilitator

Tool decision-making for dairy goats

This Practice Hub involves CapriGran Goat Farmers aiming to use an animal data processing tool to increase the efficiency of resource management in dairy goats.

OECD Area of Innovation

Organisation

System Type

Mainstream, Intensive

Size

3

Innovation Interests

Improve nutrition management and welfare

Industry partner
Facilitator
All Practice Hubs listed

Supporting holistic evaluation

PATHWAYS designs future scenarios and pathways for sustainable livestock husbandry and food systems by facilitating dialogues with farmers in Practice Hubs all over Europe.

In these national Practice Hubs, farmers discuss ideas and innovations, are given the option of testing innovations in Living Labs and feed their ideas to other stakeholders from farm to fork to support sustainable livestock production and consumption.

100% pasture-fed cow-calf dairy systems

The Practice Hub puts animal welfare and harmonious integration of livestock into their farming systems at the centre of their preoccupation. It has developed own voluntary standards beyond EU/Demeter organic that include among others that all young animals are reared in a mother-calf-rearing system.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Niche and organic

Size

20

Country

Germany

Innovation Interests
  • Techniques and ways to establish on-farm slaughtering
  • Market access for animal friendly meat
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

To address the challenge of animal stress during transportation and slaughter, this Living Lab proposes adopting semi-mobile slaughter practices directly on the farm of origin which offers substantial benefits to both animals and farmers.

Photo Gallery

Management for maximisation of carbon sequestration in pasture

The farmers of this Practice Hub are unacquainted and focused on management of carbon in grasslands. Calves on grass in 2-3 farms.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Niche, Grass Based System

Size

19

Country

France

Innovation Interests
  • Carbon sequestration in permanent and temporal grassland
  • How to increase grazing intake with climate change = Less grass in dry summers – how to manage grass growth during autumn and winter
Farmer's vision

This Practice Hub produces high quality product on extensive, crop and livestock family farms. They ensure that farmers producing for the local market receive a fair price.

Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

This Living Lab's objective is to test and implement practices aimed at maximizing the use of grazed grass for milk production, such as group spring calving, bale grazing, winter grazing, rotational grazing, forage trees and good grassland ageing. At the same time, they are working on calving at 24 months to reduce the animals' unproductive period and create high value-added products such as local cheese from the "hay milk" label, which is sold directly from the farm.

Photo Gallery

Videos

Management for maximisation of carbon sequestration in pasture | PATHWAYS Practice Hub

13 grazing dairy farmers in West of France were gathered to demonstrate the benefits of grassland systems in terms of mitigating climate change, maintaining biodiversity, improving the quality of farmers' livelihood as well as generational renewal in agriculture.

Dairy in agroforestry system for self-sufficiency in protein-based feed

In mountain areas with high biodiversity and ecological resilience, social problems are set to be resolved with sustainable agriculture systems.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Niche, Extensive

Size

15-20

Country

Romania

Innovation Interests
  • Quality products
  • Market organising aspects
  • Environmental benefits
  • Carbon sequestration, biodiversity
  • Diversification activities
  • Organic production
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

This Living Lab brings together specialists, farmers, and processors to link forage diversity in semi-natural grasslands with milk quality. It will analyze plant structure, assess the role of forest vegetation, and identify key milk quality indicators (proteins, vitamins, minerals). The goal is to improve understanding of biodiversity's role in milk quality, aiding farmers, processors, and policy implementation, particularly in mountain regions.

Photo Gallery

More-from-less dairy systems utilising on-farm advice and carbon foot-printing tool

This Practice Hub is a new group, but several people knew each other beforehand. The focus of the hub is to use tools to evaluate the environmental, social and economic aspects of the farms to further understand opportunities to improve the sustainability performance. Skilled entrepreneurs, who are curious, and happy to discuss with others.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Mainstream, Intensive

Size

7

Country

Sweden

Innovation Interests
  • Animal welfare in large herds
  • Increasing efficiency – more from less
  • Sustainable feed
  • Renewable energy
  • Optimal use of NPK
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

The goal of this Living Lab is to increase school children's awareness on the sustainability of food production . Participants will use the case of modern dairy production as an example where reality and research versus the knowledge and attitude in the general public often diverge and there is a gap to fill.

Photo Gallery

Videos

More-from-less dairy systems | PATHWAYS Practice Hub

7 dairy farmers from the South of Sweden decided to work together on communicating their sustainable practices towards the consumers. Written materials were prepared that explain Swedish modern dairy farming as well as its impact on the environment.

Conventional pig farm utilising manure for biogas

This Practice Hub involves innovation from cooperative Cooperl for the management of pig slurry with frequent removal from building and separation liquid/solid. And use of solid in biogas unit with transformation of the digestant in fertiliser.

OECD Area of Innovation

Products

System Type

Intensive, Niche

Size

100

Country

France

Innovation Interests
  • Circular economy
  • Reduction of NH3, GHG
  • Renewable production of mineral fertilizer
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

The cooperative Cooperl has developed a model of collective manure valorization, combining a scrapping system in the building and a collective biogas unit. This model reduces greenhouse gases and ammonia emissions at farm, improves air quality in the building (animal and social welfare) and reduces the land dependency for spreading because the digestates issued from the biogas unit are valorized in the production of commercialized organic fertilizers. At the Living Lab, the innovation is tested in commercial farms for a proof of concept before implementing it on a wider scale.

Photo Gallery

Green protein for pig farming

Young and old innovative organic pig farmers, interesting breeding including trees in the paddocks, feeding with green protein and sustainability. Organic farmers utilising “green-protein” from grass/clover working with feed company and refinery.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Organic, Niche

Size

3

Country

Denmark

Innovation Interests
  • Animal welfare
  • More time outdoors
  • % castration
  • More trees
  • Regulation / solar cells; new buildings
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

This Living Lab aims to develop a tool to reduce the environmental impact of organic pig production by optimizing pig feeding based on grass cover. Inspired by an existing tool for cattle farmers, which estimates grass feeding value and growth, the new tool would be tailored to organic pig farms and would allow pig farmers to input their location and grass field data, providing tailored information on energy, protein, and sugar content. This would enable farmers to adjust sow feeding accordingly, leveraging the nutritional potential of grass in pig paddocks, despite differences in grass types and soil between pig and cattle farms.

Photo Gallery

Conventional pig production with innovative flooring and biodiversity focus

The Practice Hub members from Krullvarken (Curly Tail Pig) farming have been active for 20 years.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Intensive, Niche

Size

17

Country

The Netherlands

Innovation Interests
  • Closed cycles – how to better utilize and get more value from solid manure
  • Human food waste for pig feed
  • Maximising the use of data on farm
  • Balancing meat quality with the use of circular feed
  • Society’s/consumers’ willingness to pay for circular feed
  • Rest materials from nature that can be used as bedding material
  • How to improve marketing
  • Animal welfare, emissions, CO2 foot printing
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

Krull is a sustainable concept in the Dutch pig sector. Farmers invest in barns where pigs are raised in Canadian bedding pens with a thick layer of litter for rooting which is beneficial for pig welfare. Currently the amount of pigs sold through butchers is not enough to cover the higher cost price complicating economic viability. This Living Lab aims to strengthen the current market by increasing the number of butchers by identifying the USPs relevant for the butchers and their customers.

Photo Gallery

100% pasture-fed beef systems utilising holistic planned grazing management

This Practice Hub’s members are either certified or on way to certification of Pasture for Life; all based in South England and Wales (lowland), with a huge range of backgrounds and skills.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Niche

Size

14

Country

UK

Innovation Interests
  • 100% pasture fed beef
  • Holistic planned grazing for the land, animal and farmer
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

The Living Lab is to test the density of macronutrients and vitamins B6 and B12 in 100% pasture-fed beef compared to conventionally produced beef in the UK.

New breeding methodology for “mountain pasture” with own certification/label development

This Practice Hub is based on the existing Italian Grassfed Association. Farmers are very much engaged in the system, but were mainly focused on what is wrong with public authority, policy, etc. The association extended to sheep and goat but remains mostly beef.

OECD Area of Innovation

Marketing

System Type

Mainstream, Extensive

Size

20

Country

Italy

Innovation Interests
  • Traceability
  • Block chains
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

To address the issue of non-standardized sustainability claims in the Italian meat market, this Living Lab proposes the creation of a voluntary labelling scheme as a precursor to a comprehensive Zootechnical National Quality Standard (SQNZ). This solution will involve a collaborative effort among key stakeholders to develop a scheme that provides clear, credible, and verifiable information about the sustainability practices of meat products.

Photo Gallery

Quality assured production system for beef and sheep on high nature value semi-natural pastures together with label development

Naturbeteskött, an NGO with members who are farmers, consumers, and industry representatives, all with an interest in producing, marketing and consuming beef and lamb producers from semi-natural grasslands. This practice hub showcases grazing on high nature value (HNV) grasslands. The NGO promotes quality assured pasture beef and lamb through existing third-party certification.

OECD Area of Innovation
  • Production techniques
  • Marketing added value
System Type
  • Medium, Niche
  • Conventional and/or organic is optional
Size

8-10

Country

Sweden

Innovation Interests
  • Sustainable meat production that brings biodiversity to the table
  • Market access
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

This Living Lab addresses economic sustainability of Naturbeteskött. Wintering animals in stables with harvested feed, is the biggest cost for Swedish beef farmers. Hence, this Lab investigates the possibility of lowering costs by grazing during a longer period than is normal in Swedish grazing-based systems. A longer grazing period would decrease the need for harvested and stored feed and decrease the labor needed for feeding, bedding and cleaning stalls/handling manure. The Lab will test feasibility without lowering growth rates or having a negative impact on the land used for winter grazing along with studying the effect prolonged grazing has on animal welfare.

Photo Gallery

Videos

Quality assured production system on high nature value semi-natural pastures | PATHWAYS Practice Hub

Naturbeteskött is an NGO with members who are farmers, consumers and industry representatives. They have an interest in producing, marketing and consuming beef and lamb grazing on semi-natural grasslands. Therefore, this practice hub showcases the benefits of grazing on high nature value (HNV) grasslands and promotes quality assured pasture beef and lamb through existing third-party certification.

Agri-tech poultry innovation for improved food safety and quality

This Practice Hub is based on poultry farms, focusing on the implementation of a food traceability system as a tool to enable the ongoing monitoring of efficiency and environmental indicators, including a carbon footprint, and to allow farmers to get better prices for the products.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production techniques

System Type

Mainstream and Organic Production

Size

11

Country

Poland

Innovation Interests
  • Improving food safety and quality
  • Increasing consumer trust
  • Improving climate footprint of production
  • Connectivity
  • Impact of animal production
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

In this Living Lab a food traceability system based on advanced ICT and big data technologies is being tested. It focuses on how such system can enable the ongoing monitoring of efficiency and environmental indicators, including carbon footprint and to allow farmers to get better prices for their products.

Photo Gallery

Farmer cooperative producing and sharing compost from plant-based litter

This Practice Hub involves the cooperative Fertil’Eveil that created a composting plant back in 2007. In 2011, they started a litter production plant to standardise and integrate the composting process. In 2018, they opened a second composting platform and in 2022, a third.

OECD Area of Innovation

Products

System Type

Niche, Intensive

Size

150

Country

France

Innovation Interests
  • Assess the impact of the litter (welfare, etc.)
  • Assess the impact of the composting process on soil
  • Better nutrient management
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

The proposed innovation in this Living Lab aims to develop and test a new bedding material composed of wood shavings fines and dolomite, a natural mineral rich in magnesium and calcium.

Photo Gallery

Closed-loop egg production by feeding food processing waste and recycling manure

This Practice Hub consists of innovative farmers that aim to produce eggs within societal boundaries by applying new methods and approaches.

OECD Area of Innovation

Production technique

System Type

Mainstream, Intensive

Size

3

Country

The Netherlands

Innovation Interests
  • Circularity
  • Emotions of animals
  • Consumer interests
  • Business model including circularity, animal welfare and consumer interests
Practice Hub Vision
  • Feelings/emotions of animals
  • Meet societal needs
  • Business model
  • Animals at the centre of the system
Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

This LivingLab aims at optimizing the utilization of residual streams and enhance animal welfare, while focussing on local networking. Organic byproducts arise at various stages based on seasonal harvesting and processing times (eg. imperfect produce, trimmings, crop by-products). Effective by-prduct management contributes to cost reduction and minimizing a farmer's carbon footprint.

Photo Gallery

Dehesa Mediterranean system of sheep rearing in silvopasture with different input levels

This Practice Hub involves Corsevilla, a cooperative in the southwest of Spain that collects sheep and lambs from farms and commercialises them. This hub is focused on Dehesa sheep with different input levels.

OECD Area of Innovation

Marketing

System Type

Niche, Extensive

Size

8-9

Country

Spain

Innovation Interests

Reduce health issues (respiratory/digestive during the early in life)

Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

This Living Lab focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of phytochemicals in improving overall efficiency, considering the different lambing periods in winter, summer, and spring. The uniqueness of this approach lies in its adaptation to the specific conditions of the Dehesa ecosystem, where management strategies must be tailored to the needs of both mothers and lambs.

Photo Gallery

Tool decision-making for dairy goats

This Practice Hub involves CapriGran Goat Farmers aiming to use an animal data processing tool to increase the efficiency of resource management in dairy goats.

OECD Area of Innovation

Organisation

System Type

Mainstream, Intensive

Size

3

Country

Spain

Innovation Interests

Improve nutrition management and welfare

Industry partner
Facilitator

Living Lab

This Living Lab is collecting data and information on the farm environmental conditions and animal welfare and study their effects on milk production and quality in farms operating under different management systems. The results obtained would lead to recommendations on farm management practices and housing, which would help to improve productivity/profitability of the farmers. Simultaneously, some animals will be monitored with ‘activity collars’ to identify resilient animals under heat stress conditions and determine their behaviour pre-during and post stress and discomfort events.

Photo Gallery