Spheres of transformation: exploring personal, political and practical drivers of farmer agency and behaviour change in the Netherlands

Sustainability transitions research increasingly engages with agency and individual actor perspectives to explain complex system change. This paper introduces the spheres of transformation framework to study how and why 21 Dutch farmers, interviewed in the winter of 2020/2021, transform their business models towards sustainability. This framework is composed of three spheres: the personal (values and worldviews), the political (institutions), and the practical (everyday outcomes). Our results show that the interactions between spheres harbour the greatest potential for transformation as well as the greatest barriers, especially when all three spheres intersect. We furthermore identify individual actors’ personal characteristics that are significant in transformations. We conclude that the spheres of transformation framework is a suitable middle-range framework for the study of agency and behaviour in sustainability transitions that bridges between local and global transition models, and that policymakers and researchers should consider all three spheres when engaging individual actors in efforts to make sociotechnical systems more sustainable

Uncertainty assessment of the breath methane concentration method to determine methane production of dairy cows

The breath methane concentration method uses the methane concentrations in the cow's breath during feed bin visits as a proxy for the methane production rate. The objective of this study was to assess the uncertainty of a breath methane concentration method in a feeder and its capability to measure and rank cows' methane production. A range of controlled methane fluxes from a so-called artificial reference cow were dosed in a feed bin, and its exhaled air was sampled by a tube inside the feeder and analyzed. The artificial reference cow simulates the lungs, respiratory tract, and rumen of a cow and releases a variable methane flux to generate a concentration pattern in the exhaled breath that closely resembles a real cow's pattern. The strength of the relation between the controlled methane release rates of the artificial reference cow and the measured methane concentrations was analyzed by linear regression, using the coefficient of determination (R2) and the residual standard error as performance indicators. The effect of error sources (source-sampling distance, air turbulence, and cow's head movement) on this relation was experimentally investigated, both under laboratory and barn conditions. From the laboratory to the dairy barn at the 30-cm sampling distance, the R2-value decreased from 0.97 to 0.37 and the residual standard error increased from 75 to 86 ppm as a result of barn air turbulence, the latter increasing to a theoretical 94 ppm if modeled variability due to cow's head movement was accounted for as well. In practice, the effect of these random errors can be compensated by sampling strategies including repeated measurements on each cow over time, thus increasing the distinctive power between cows. However, systematic errors that may disturb the relation between concentration and production rate, such as cow variation in air exhalation rate and air flow patterns around sampling locations that differ between barns, cannot be compensated by repeated measurements. As a result, the methane concentrations of breath air will vary between cows with the same methane production. We conclude that the capability of the breath concentration measurement method to adequately measure and rank methane production rates among cows is highly uncertain and requires further investigation into variation sources with a systematic nature

Rethinking livestock production systems on the Galápagos Islands: Organizing knowledge-practice interfaces through reflexive interactive design

Different economic interests and frames of meaning around livestock production and environmental management usually lead to controversies. This is also the case on the Galápagos Islands. The literature usually focusses on Galápagos’ ecosystems and wildlife. However, less attention is given to livestock production systems on the archipelago. In this article, we introduce an initiative to redesign the livestock (i.e., pigs and poultry) production systems on the Galápagos Islands to achieve a higher degree of socio-ecological sustainability by deploying the first phase of the ‘reflexive interactive design’ (RIO) approach. On the basis of an interactive system analysis, this article answers the following question: What redesign options can be coproduced, and how, to enable a change towards sustainable livestock production systems? To analyse this (re)design process this article deploys and further elaborates the concept of knowledge-practice interfaces.</p

Temporal and spatial variation of methane concentrations around lying cubicles in dairy barns

To breed cows for low methane production, farm measurement methods are required to measure individual methane production of cows. The long lying period of cows in cubicles could be utilised here. However, variable aerial conditions around cubicles may challenge this approach. The objective of this study was to (1) assess temporal and spatial variability of methane concentrations around cubicles; (2) explore influencing factors on them; and (3) assess effects of barn background variability in methane concentrations on assessed individual methane production. Concentrations around two cubicles in a naturally ventilated dairy barn were measured during a summer and a winter period. The effect of barn background variability in methane concentration on individual cow measurements was analysed in relation to the working principles of the breath methane concentration and methane flux methods. Mean methane concentrations around the cubicle were 29–37 ppm in the summer and 33–51 ppm in the winter period. Spatial variations of hourly averages of methane concentration around the cubicle were 71% in the summer and 58% in the winter period. Temporal variations of hourly averages of methane concentration varied from 115 to 153% in the summer, and from 57 to 109% in the winter period among the sample locations. These variations were mainly affected by airflows and barn management. The coefficient of variation (CV) of the background concentration strongly influenced the overall measurement CV of assessed methane production, in both the methane flux and breath methane concentration method. This information can be used to limit measurement variation in methane measurement methods.</p

Involving the animal as a contributor in design to overcome animal welfare related trade-offs : The dust bath unit as an example

Allowing farm animals to have active control and influence over their environment through the expression of intrinsically motivated behaviours contributes to their (positive)welfare. However, farm animals are predominantly seen as passive receivers of what husbandry systems should provide for them. Additionally, designers and engineers of farming systems neglect the animals' potential in the design of husbandry systems, resulting in disadvantageous trade-offs between animal welfare and economic and environmental sustainability aspects. This paper describes, through the application of an interactive structured design approach, how laying hens can actively contribute to the functioning of the husbandry system by exercising their own goals. The ambition of this research was to allow animals to contribute to creating opportunities that might overcome existing trade-offs between animal welfare and other sustainability goals. The Reflexive Interactive Design approach was applied to achieve this ambition. This paper presents the methodological steps of the design process to contribute to the reduction of the (fine) dust problem in laying hen husbandry using the dust bath unit as an example. Also, this paper describes how we incorporated the laying hen as a contributor in the design process. We show that facilitating intrinsically motivated laying hen dust bathing behaviour can simultaneously resolve the environmental dust problem experienced in loose housing systems.</p

Deep Learning for Laying Hen Activity Recognition Using Wearable Sensors

Laying hen activities in modern intensive housing systems can dramatically influence the policies needed for the optimal management of such systems. Intermittent monitoring of different behaviors during daytime cannot provide a good overview, since daily behaviors are not equally distributed over the day. This paper investigates the application of deep learning technology in the automatic recognition of laying hen behaviors equipped with body-worn inertial measurement unit (IMU) modules in poultry systems. Motivated by the human activity recognition literature, a sophisticated preprocessing method is tailored on the time-series data of IMU, transforming it into the form of so-called activity images to be recognized by the deep learning models. The diverse range of behaviors a laying hen can exhibit are categorized into three classes: low-, medium-, and high-intensity activities, and various recognition models are trained to recognize these behaviors in real-time. Several ablation studies are conducted to assess the efficacy and robustness of the developed models against variations and limitations common for an in situ practical implementation. Overall, the best trained model on the full-feature acquired data achieves a mean accuracy of almost 100%, where the whole process of inference by the model takes less than 30 milliseconds. The results suggest that the application of deep learning technology for activity recognition of individual hens has the potential to accurately aid successful management of modern poultry systems

Tuberculosis in children: getting started on the road to zero [Editorial]

The declining number of yak farming families is perceived as a socio-political and economic concern in Bhutan. However, there is limited understanding of what influences herders' plans and decisions on yak farming. We studied factors determining future perspectives of yak farming by interviewing yak herders and livestock professionals. We analysed relationships between herders' characteristics and level of concerns, and future plans related to yak farming. Furthermore, relationships between level of concern and future plans were analysed. Most of the herder characteristics did not influence their future plans with yak farming. Age and level of perceived concern of the herders was associated with their wish for their children to continue yak farming in the future. Nevertheless, they expect that the number of yak farming families will decline in the next ten years. Additionally, most of the livestock professionals believe that the number of yak farming families will decline in the future. No differences were observed between the aggregated score of concern of herders and livestock professionals. The most important factors threatening the future of yak farming in Bhutan according to herders and livestock professionals are forage shortage, predation and no successor to take up yak farming.</p

Transition towards sustainable yak farming in Bhutan : stakeholders’ viewpoints and recommendations for future steps

The Bhutanese government initiated a highland development programme in the year 2016 to promote yak farming because the number of yak farming families is declining. However, there are several cross-cutting policies and issues that affect successful implementation of interventions to support yak farming in transition. We studied the challenges and opportunities to sustain yak farming and related trade-offs around problems and solutions through individual and focus group interviews with six stakeholder groups (i.e. herders from two regions, extensionists, park rangers, livestock officials, and forest officials). Overall the herders rated forage availability and yak mortality as the main threats to yak farming, while government officials rated labour availability as the main threats. Most problems and solutions that were identified in the focus group interviews had diverging views among the stakeholder groups. There is clearly a need for a multi-stakeholder dialogue aiming to discuss problems and solutions together. This should take away misleading and disputed claims, and provide understanding about the approach to cope with risks and uncertainty around transhumance yak-based communities. A strong collaboration should lead to appropriate policy, which would reduce challenges and barriers, and simultaneously give opportunities to herders and their children to stay in yak farming in future.</p

Composition and biogas yield of a novel source segregation system for pig excreta

<p>The performance of a novel source segregation method for pig excreta (a V-shaped conveyor belt underneath the slatted pen floor) was compared to conventional separation methods for pig slurry (screw press, centrifugation, flocculation with/without centrifugation). For the source segregation system, a larger amount of organic matter accumulated in the solid fraction (96%) than for conventional separation systems (34-93%). Also the dry matter content, nutrient content (total N and P), and methane production of this solid was higher than for the other systems. Furthermore the volumetric methane yield was much higher than for the solid fraction from the other separation systems (1.6 vs 0.8-1.0 m³ [CH₄]·m^-3 [reactor]·day^-1 for a CSTR). Due to the high methane yield, digestion of the solid from source segregation is expected to require a considerable smaller reactor than for slurry digestion, which would increase the economic feasibility of mono-digestion systems for animal manure.</p

Development and evaluation of a thermoregulatory model for predicting thermal responses of dairy cows

This study developed a three-node mechanistic model to simulate processes of Holstein dairy cows physiological regulation and heat dissipation under various environmental conditions based on bio-physical laws. This model calculated the heat flow through three main nodes at the body core, skin and coat of a cow. Heat production by the animal and heat flow between the animal and the environment, including convection, long-wave radiation, skin evaporation and respiration, were calculated. Sub models of physiological regulation, including tissue resistance, respiration and sweating rate, were developed using the training dataset from an experiment conducted recently in climate-controlled respiration chambers, providing an improved modelling of the thermo-physiological process of dairy cows. The model requires information of climate and animal characteristics as inputs, and outputs body core, skin and coat temperatures. This model was evaluated through the testing experimental dataset. The root mean squared errors of prediction for body core and skin temperatures were 0.3 and 1.2 °C, respectively. This model was able to calculate dynamic changes in body core heat storage and the body and skin temperature variations. A simulation study was conducted on a dairy cow with 600 kg of body weight and 30 kg of daily milk yield with increasing ambient temperature at different relative humidity and air velocity levels. The predicted effects of environmental factors on the thermal responses were generally in line with the experimental results. The model is reliable to predict the thermal status of dairy cows and to predict the benefits of cooling methods and their limitations