Research projects

Sustainable Organic and Low Input Dairying

Acronym : SOLID

Code : 266367

Contract Period : 01/04/2011 - 31/03/2016

Project Webpage : http://www.solidairy.eu/

Main Funder : EC FP 7

ORC Staff Contact : Konstantinos Zaralis

Improving the technical performance and economic competitiveness of organic and low input dairy systems in Europe while maximising their potential to deliver environmental goods and enhance biodiversity. Includes a large component of farmer participation.

Project Aims:

  1. Actively involve farming stakeholders in a programme of on-farm research which addresses their needs
  2. Improve animal health and welfare, productivity and product quality in low input and organic systems
  3. Improve the supply of forage in low input and organic systems
  4. Build knowledge of environmental sustainability of European organic and low input dairy supply chains
  5. Understand the expectations of members of the supply chain, and consumers, in relation to low input and organic dairy systems
  6. Evaluate the competitiveness of existing dairy farms and the effects of introducing novel strategies
  7. Organise national workshops and conferences to disseminate the project outputs

ORC's Role:

  • Co-ordinator of Work Package 1 – Innovation through stakeholder involvement and participatory research, in close collaboration with OMSCO and Calon Wen
  • Running participatory on-farm research in UK
  • Agro-forestry research
  • Contributions to socio-economic work package

Current progress highlights:

Future sustainability of organic and low-input milk production: Challenges and solutions. Conference proceedings from Bristol, January 2016

A Rapid Assessment Tool for sustainability of dairy farms designed by ORC has been adapted for use in other countries and is being used to assess ten farms in each country. The report can be found here and a summary of the UK results is here

Project leader and partners:

  1. ABERYSTWYTH UNIVERSITY United Kingdom
  2. AARHUS UNIVERSITET Denmark
  3. PROGRESSIVE FARMING TRUST LTD T/A THE ORGANIC RESEARCH CENTRE (ORC) United Kingdom
  4. UNIVERSITAET FUER BODENKULTUR WIEN (BOKU) Austria
  5. UNIVERSITA POLITECNICA DELLE MARCHE Italy
  6. UNIVERSITEIT GENT Belgium
  7. AGRIFOOD AND BIOSCIENCES INSTITUTE (AFBI) United Kingdom
  8. MAA JA ELINTARVIKETALOUDEN TUTKIMUSKESKUS (MTT ) Finland
  9. ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS Greece
  10. JRC -JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE- EUROPEAN COMMISSION Belgium
  11. EIGEN VERMOGEN VAN HET INSTITUUT VOOR LANDBOUW EN VISSERIJONDERZOEK (EV-ILVO) Belgium
  12. AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS (CSIC) Spain
  13. INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE-DEZVOLTARE PENTRUBIOLOGIE SI NUTRITIE ANIMALA (INCDBNA) Romania
  14. AGRESEARCH LIMITED S New Zealand
  15. SERVICE ICAR SRL Italy
  16. Organic Milk Suppliers Co-operative Ltd (OMSCO) United Kingdom
  17. INSTITUTE OF ORGANIC TRAINING AND ADVICE LTD (IOTA) United Kingdom
  18. LEIBNIZ-ZENTRUM FUER AGRARLANDSCHAFTSFORSCHUNG (ZALF) Germany
  19. Calon Wen Organic Milk Co-operative Ltd United Kingdom
  20. ISTITUTO PER LA CERTIFICAZIONE ETICA ED AMBIENTALE Italy
  21. AGRICULTURAL DAIRY COOPERATIVE OF ANOGIA PROODOS Greece
  22. Juvan Luomu OY Finland
  23. Wim Govaerts & Co Belgium
  24. FEDERACION ANDALUZA DE ASOCIACIONES DE GANADO CAPRINO DE RAZA PURA, CABRANDALUCIA Spain
  25. Thise Mejeri amba Denmark
  26. SC AGRO SOLOMONESCU SRL Romania

Deliverables:

The SOLID Farmer Handbook is a series of technical notes, produced by ORC, presenting a selection of results and recommendations of the work undertaken in SOLID. The technical notes cover three thematic areas which we believe are particularly important for organic and low-input farming: feeding of ruminants with forage-based diets and home-grown feeds; animal management for health and welfare; and wider issues of the environment and economics. Download the Farmers Handbook or individual technical notes from http://farmadvice.solidairy.eu/farmers-leaflets/

Publications:

Zaralis K, Padel S (2019). Effects of High Stocking Grazing Density of Diverse Swards on Forage Production, Animal Performance and Soil Organic Matter: A Case Study. In: Theodoridis A, Ragkos A, Salampasis M (eds) Innovative Approaches and Applications for Sustainable Rural Development. HAICTA 2017. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp 131-146.

Knudsen MT, Dorca-Preda T, Djomo SN, Peña N, Padel S, Smith LG, Zollitsch W, Hörtenhuber S, Hermansen JE (2019) The importance of including soil carbon changes, ecotoxicity and biodiversity impacts in environmental life cycle assessments of organic and conventional milk in Western Europe. Journal of Cleaner Production 215: 433-443

Naspetti S, Mandolesi S, Buysse J, Latvala T, Nicholas P, Padel S, Van Loo E, Zanoli R (2017) Determinants of the Acceptance of Sustainable Production Strategies among Dairy Farmers: Development and Testing of a Modified Technology Acceptance Model. Sustainability, 9 (10), 1805.

Scollan N, Padel S, Halsberg N, Hermansen J, Nicholas P, Rinne M, Zanoli R, Zollitsch W, Lauwers L (2017), Organic and Low-Input Dairy Farming: Avenues to Enhance Sustainability and Competitiveness in the EU. EuroChoices. doi:10.1111/1746-692X.12162

Padel, Susanne; Vaarst, Mette and Zaralis, Konstantinos (2015) Supporting Innovation in Organic Agriculture: A European Perspective Using Experience from the SOLID Project. Sustainable Agriculture Research, 4 (3), pp. 32-41.

Leach, Katharine (2012) Assessing the sustainability of EU organic and low input dairy farms. Organic Research Centre Bulletin, 2012, 111 (Winter), pp. 9-10.

Leach, Katharine; Gerrard, Catherine L and Padel, Susanne (Eds.) (2013) Rapid sustainability assessment of organic and low-input farming across Europe and identification of research needs. Deliverable 1.1, no. EU- SOLID project. ORC, Hamstead Marshall, Newbury.

Rinne, Marketta; Dragomir, Catalin; Kuoppala, Kaisa; Marley, Christina; Smith, Jo and Yanez Ruiz, David (2012) Novel and underutilized feed resources – potential for use in organic and low input dairy production. In: Rahmann, Gerold and Godinho, D (Eds.) Agriculture and Forestry Research (362), pp. 404-407.

Leach, Katharine; Gerrard, Catherine L; Kudahl, Anne Braad; Nykänen, Arja; Vaarst, Mette; Weissensteiner, Roswitha and Padel, Susanne (2012) Assessing the sustainability of EU dairy farms with different management systems and husbandry practices. In: Rahmann, Gerold and Godinho, D (Eds.) Agriculture and Forestry Research (362), pp. 277-281.

Smith, Jo; Leach, Katharine; Rinne, Marketta and Kuoppala, Kaisa (2012) Integrating willow-based bioenergy and organic dairy production – the role of tree fodder for feed supplementation. In: Rahmann, Gerold and Godinho, D (Eds.) Agriculture and Forestry Research (362), pp. 394-397.

Project Output:

Previous Relevant Work:

Public Goods tool project

Other Web Links:

Project co-ordinator – IBERS –Aberystwyth
UK stakeholder partner – OMSCO
UK stakeholder partner – Calon Wen

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