Work Packages

WP1 will establish and operate a participatory approach for co-innovation, co-learning and data collection to enable a timely and effective transition to improved practices within the European livestock food systems.

Objectives of WP1:

• Form and manage the European multi-actor platform and practice hubs with the close involvement of PATHWAYS industry partners and stakeholders to enable co-innovation and to provide an interactive forum for the development of visions and to inform scenario development in WP2.
• Identify existing challenges and solutions for the livestock sector through a participatory approach involving all practice hubs and European multi-actor platforms, informing the assessments done in WPs 3-7.
• Explore and demonstrate the factors affecting the uptake and success of innovations in commercial livestock businesses and facilitate knowledge exchange in collaboration with WPs 8 and 9.
• Coordinate data collection from selected practice hubs within major production areas.

WP2 will assess the impact of current policies and stakeholder-defined scenarios for sustainable development in the livestock sector to identify and develop timely, relevant and effective transition pathways.

Objectives of WP2:

• Develop a novel framework for a holistic evaluation of livestock food system sustainability and resilience against current and future policy objectives.
• Co-develop sustainability visions and scenarios for the assessment in WPs 3-7 through stakeholder engagement and macroeconomic modelling.
• Highlight trade-offs and synergies associated with future scenarios to identify suitable transition pathways towards 2050.

WP3 will develop relevant sustainability indicators, decision support tools and monitoring frameworks to support a transition to sustainability in European livestock production systems.

Objectives of WP3:

• Characterise the current main livestock production systems in Europe.
• Develop indicators and tools for the assessment of animal welfare and biodiversity.
• Increase the accuracy of the estimation of green house gas emissions and other emissions in livestock management.
• Analyse agro-tech innovations and their effect on sustainability in livestock production.

WP4 will assess consumer perception, nutritional value and sustainability impacts of livestock products and determine potential future consumer food baskets, including their nutritional and sustainability impacts.

Objectives of WP4:

• Identify the barriers and drivers to increase the uptake of healthy and sustainable livestock products.
• Define the nutritional value of a large range of animal products to evaluate whether such products make specific dietary options more suitable for people with specific needs.
• Define and calculate the environmental and nutritional impacts of weekly food basket subscriptions.
• Determine potential diets of the future to inform WP2 and WP7.

WP5 will carry out a comprehensive holistic sustainability assessment of livestock husbandry in Europe, to enable a (re)design of livestock management that reconciles productivity, sustainability, quality and other societal values.

Objectives of WP5:

• Develop and harmonise holistic cross-scale assessment methodologies for LCA in livestock systems.
• Assess the sustainability of current livestock production and innovations in Europe.
• Assess the sustainability impact of innovations in practice hubs from farm to fork.
• Assess the sustainability impact of present and future scenarios.

To assess the extent to which livestock production systems can promote a circular bioeconomy and ecosystem service delivery within planetary boundaries from a territorial perspective across different spatial scales.

Objectives of WP6:

• Develop methods for assessing ecosystem service delivery at regional, national and European scales.
• Assess circularity and ecosystem service delivery within current and future livestock production systems at regional, national and European scales.
• Assess European livestock carrying capacities to enable a production within a set of planetary boundaries.

WP7 will identify innovations, policy levers and business strategies that will support a transformational change towards more sustainability and resilience within livestock value chains in Europe.

Objectives of WP7:

• Provide a comparative, integrative overview of current governance, power relationships and logistical constraints within contrasted livestock value chains in Europe to identify potential leverage points.
• Co-design and validate a multi-scale method to assess the economic and social sustainability of EU-wide livestock chains.
• Assess where critical interventions (innovations, business strategies and policy levers) have the highest potential to lead to transformative change for sustainability and resilience within the livestock sector.

WP8 facilitates dialogue between farmers, scientists, policymakers, consumers, citizens and society, to promote the sharing of knowledge on potential developments in livestock food systems.

Objectives of WP8:

• Provide an interactive online platform that supports exchanges between industry partners, the European multi-actor platform and broader stakeholders within a community of practice.
• Disseminate key project outputs using communication resources and a core communication and dissemination strategy that targets all stakeholders.
• Build a knowledge exchange network to enhance PATHWAYS’ impact and exploitation.
• Facilitate regular flows of information between project partners and stakeholders to support policy-making and subsequent business and research strategies for the development of sustainable farming and livestock pathways.

WP9 coordinates the project tasks, milestones and deliverables, and ensure compliance with EC financial and administrative procedures.

Objectives of WP9:

• Ensure optimal coordination of scientific, human, and financial resources.
• Promote effective integration between WP research activities.
• Ensure effective working of the Executive Board.
• Ensure timely and appropriate reporting to the EC.
• Manage the Innovation Fund for the living labs.

The objective is to ensure compliance with the ethics requirements set out in this work package that the project must comply with.