Improved contribution of local feed to support 100% organic feed supply to pigs and poultry

Acronym:

ICOPP

Project code:

OF0395

Contract period:

1 October 2011 to 1 October 2014

Project webpage:

http://www.icopp.eu

Main funder:

Defra for UK work as part of the Core Organic II

Contact staff at ORC:

Dr. Jo Smith

Project aims

The project aims, through an innovative approach of increased knowledge of the characteristics of different local feeds and their wider impact on growth, health and welfare and environment, to produce new feeding strategies which comply with the aims for high animal welfare, production economics and environmental concerns.

The main objectives are:

Improved knowledge of availability and nutritional value of underutilised or new organic feed ingredients by animal category with a focus on local feed resources
Improved understanding of the possible benefits of roughage inclusion in relation to nutritional and behavioural needs as well as its impact on health and welfare
Understanding how direct foraging in the outdoor area can contribute to meeting the animals’ nutritional needs
Assessing the economic and environmental consequences of increased reliance on local organically-produced feed

Across the 10 partner countries, a range of feeding experiments will be carried out with pigs (sows, piglets and finishers) and poultry (layers and broilers). These trials will include different feedstuffs, roughage, and foraging. The insight gained from these activities will be used to analyse and produce feeding strategies adapted to the differences in local feed supply, the economic impact related to different feed procurement, and variations in production structure in different countries/agroecological zones in Europe.

ORC's role

ORC is contributing to nearly all the Work Packages in the project but we are running, in conjunction with FAI Farms, feed trials on growing pigs and broiler chickens. We will be investigating the effect of roughage on health, welfare and production parameters on pigs and the same effects of European protein sources for the poultry.

We are also running field assessments of feed resources from various on farm habitats and will be collating data on the subject with a desk study to test the hypothesis that the range can contribute to the nutritional needs of pigs and poultry.

Finally we are responsible for leading the knowledge exchange and dissemination within the project.

Current progress highlights

The Kick-off (inception) meeting was held in Billund, Denmark and was hosted by our Danish partners Aarhus University.

Project leader and partners

Aarhus University, Denmark - Project leader (AU)
Lithuanian Institute of Agrarian Economics (LIAE)
Wageningen UR, Netherlands (WUR – LR)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria (BOKU)
The Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute, Germany (VTI)
Agrifood Research, Finland (MTT)
University of Applied Sciences, Germany (HSWT)
Louis Bolk Institute (LBI)
FAI Farms, UK (FAI)
Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau (FiBL)
Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA)
Institut Techniique de l’Agriculture Biologique (ITAB)
LFZ Raumberg Gumpenstein (LFZ)

Publications

Nelder, Rebecca; Smith, Jo; Clements, Ruth and Pearce, Bruce (2012) 100% local and organic: closing the protein gap for poultry in the ICOPP Project. In: Rahmann, Gerold and Godinho, D (Eds.) Agriculture and Forestry Research (362), pp. 385-387.

Other output

Introduction to ICOPP project leaflet (PDF 1.7MB)

All sources of funding

Defra for UK work as part of Core Organic II. Other partners are funded by their respective governments.