• Niemi, Jarkko
• Micheloni, Cristina
• Jamart, An
• Re, Martina
• Vooren, Laura Van
• Tuyttens, Frank

Abstract

SUMMARY: The PPILOW project aims to co-construct through a multi-actor approach innovations to improve the welfare of poultry and pigs reared in organic and low-input outdoor farming systems. <br/>BACKGROUND: The first originality of PPILOW is the participatory approach, involving all actors of the production chain from farmers to consumers, citizens, scientists and policy makers, for proposing and studying welfare improvement levers. The second originality of the project is to provide a combination of practical solutions for welfare improvement that can be applied on a pan-European basis with specific adjustments depending on citizen’s expectations and the target market. More precisely, PPILOW co-creates with end-users, gathered in connected National Practitioner Groups (NPG), welfare self-assessment tools, innovative breeding and rearing strategies and techniques for improving the welfare of animals by avoiding physical damage (piglet castration or beak trimming in poultry) and the elimination of one day-old layer male chicks, favouring positive behaviours, and improving health and robustness in both species. <br/>CORE MESSAGE AND CONCLUSIONS: The multi-actor approach consists in gathering in NPG representatives of selection firms, feed producers, consumer associations, retailers, advisers, processors, scientists and farmers in several countries. The groups are facilitated by PPILOW project partners making the links between NPG at European level, transferring scientific information, interacting with partners engaged in animal experiments and co-creating innovations rising from NPG-specific demands. Especially they will contribute to the co-building and testing of welfare self-assessment tools, target specific means of improving welfare, co-design the protocols, test innovations on farm and disseminate the results, with in turn insights in scientific results and methods, and inputs from other NPG for reinforcing the value of the expected outcomes. <br/>The innovative solutions are currently investigated experimentally and the most promising ones will be tested on-farm after discussions within the NPG. Multicriteria analyses of the most effective breeding and rearing strategies will then be performed to evaluate their economic, social and environmental impacts based on the ‘One Welfare’ concept embracing sustainability goals with specific emphasis on animal and human welfare. Business models will be created for the use of high-quality products issued from the adoption of PPILOW strategies. <br/>Finally, to ensure the rapid uptake of the project results by end-users, appropriate dissemination activities will be developed (such as training, on-farm demonstrations, and digital videos from field partners etc.). The facilitation of change will be managed through the close involvement of the PPILOW’s participative groups throughout the EU. <br/>REFERENCE: Funding: The PPILOW project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement N°816172.<br/><br/><br/>

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• experiment