RESILIENCE FOR DAIRY (R4D), A JOURNEY TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE FARMING
R4D (Resilience for Dairy) is one of the most recent European projects to contribute to the social, economic and environmental development of dairy farming.
The project, funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme, was launched in January 2021. During three years, 18 organisations from 15 European countries will be cooperating under the leadership of the French Institut de l’Élevage IDELE.
The follow-up project to EuroDairy, aims to strengthen the exchange between farmers, researchers and relevant actors of the dairy sector, with the intention of creating better solutions through the cross-fertilisation of stakeholders. Over 3 years, R4D will focus on three knowledge areas in order to enhance dairy farms’ sustainability:
- economic and social resilience
- technical efficiency
- environment, animal welfare and society friendly production systems.
The participants of the project are working together on improving business and operational strategies for dairy farms, as well as stimulating positive interactions between farming communities and society. They are searching for the most effective and innovative techniques to tackle the challenges of improving animal welfare, increasing biodiversity, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and lowering dairying’s environmental footprint.
To increase resilience and robustness of dairy farms, R4D will proceed through different steps. From finding tailored solutions for different farms, to training sessions and e-learning webinars, the project participants from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Slovenia and Spain will cooperate to try out different models and develop a number of solutions.
The first stage of the project was to create a network of resilient pilot farms and dairy organizations in Europe, that will be connected to the national dairy AKIS (agriculture knowledge and innovation system). This multi-actor approach allows the expression of the most urgent needs of the dairy farmers. It will also result in a better understanding and greater exchange of knowledge, resulting in discovering and disseminating the most appropriate and effective innovative practices that will advance the dairy sector.
Resilience for Dairy (R4D) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101000770.
For further information can be found on our website: https://resilience4dairy.eu/
In addition to this, our pilot farm network is also a good opportunity for student exchanges.
