Case study: Duchy College Organic Studies Centre

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Coswinsawsin Organic Demonstration Farm supports a stockless vegetable and cereal rotation and achieved organic status in January 2001. Over 18 months 430 people attended 18 organic farming events. Work included trials and demonstration plots, monitoring of small mammal and bird populations and a green waste composting project which are ongoing. £972,199 Objective 1 funding was awarded to expand activity across all sectors of production and establish the Organic Studies Centre at Duchy College. The project will link organic research to demonstration, technology transfer and training. The emphasis will be on farmer participation and research will be taken onto commercial farms. 82% of respondents to a farmer survey were interested in participation in organic trials and demonstration. It is anticipated that dissemination of up to date information at farm level will improve competitiveness and financial viability of farm businesses

Continuing Professional Development and Farm Business Performance

Economic and social pressures are transforming farm businesses and the structure of the agricultural industry, consequently it is presumed that farm management skills are under intense pressure. This creates a need for effective interaction between knowledge management and the actions taken by farm decision makers. However a definition of “successful farm business performance” is not easy to find and this, combined with literature that deals with managerial tasks in isolation, does not provide a clear picture for the farm manager pursuing self development. Farm businesses vary considerably in their attributes and resource base and the plethora of measurable factors mean that the manager needs to be able to identify what to measure and why on his own farm. In the UK it appears that most of the measures used in farming do not take into account the customer or human factors alluded to in other industries. Development of the skills and abilities of the decision makers to utilise techniques, interpret measures and relate them to their own business needs is increasingly important. The preliminary investigations described in this paper indicate that farmers and farm managers are aware of business management techniques but do not appear to integrate them fully into their own businesses.Farm Management, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Rethinking efficiency: Growth curves as a proxy for inputs and impacts in finishing beef systems

Quantifying and improving efficiency within beef systems is essential for economic and environmental sustainability. The industry standard for assessing efficiency is liveweight gain per day, however, this metric is limited in that it values each day of a growing animal's life as equally costly, despite the increasing maintenance requirements, inputs, and emissions associated with increasing liveweight. Quantifying the area under the growth curve (AUC) considers both time and liveweight as a cost and therefore may hold potential as a better estimate of cost, impact, and efficiency in beef systems. Liveweight data was taken from 439 finishing beef cattle split across three herds grazing on different pastures, known as ‘farmlets’. Analysis was conducted in three parts: [1] Validation of AUC as a proxy for costs using data from a sub-set of 87 animals that had been part of a previous life cycle assessment (LCA) study in which dry matter intake (DMI), methane emissions (CH4), and nitrous oxide emissions (N2O) were calculated. [2] Calculation of AUC relative to liveweight gain (LWG AUC−1) and comparison of that metric against the industry standard of liveweight gain per day (LWG day−1). [3] Assessment of how LWG AUC−1 varied with breed, sex, and management. When comparing to LCA results, AUC correlated significantly with DMI (r = 0.886), CH4 (r = 0.788) and N2O (r = 0.575) emissions. Over the full dataset, there was a negative non-linear relationship between LWG AUC−1 and slaughter age (r = −0.809). There was a significant difference in LWG AUC−1 between breeds (p = 0.046) and farmlets (p = 0.028), but not sex (p = 0.388). LWG AUC−1 has the potential to act as a proxy for feed intake and emissions. In that regard it is superior to LWG day−1, whilst requiring no additional data. Results highlighted the decreasing efficiency of beef cattle over time and the potential benefits of earlier slaughter. The use of LWG AUC−1 could allow farmers to improve their understanding of efficiency within their herds, aiding informed management decision making

Comparison of the welfare of beef cattle in housed and grazing systems: hormones, health and behaviour

Animal welfare encompasses all aspects of an animal's life and the interactions between animals. Consequently, welfare must be measured across a variety of factors that consider aspects such as health, behaviour and mental state. Decisions regarding housing and grazing are central to farm management. In this study, two beef cattle systems and their herds were compared from weaning to slaughter across numerous indicators. One herd (‘HH’) were continuously housed, the other (‘HG’) were housed only during winter. Inspections of animals were conducted to assess body condition, cleanliness, diarrhoea, hairlessness, nasal discharge and ocular discharge. Hair and nasal mucus samples were taken for quantification of cortisol and serotonin. Qualitative behaviour assessments (QBA) were also conducted and performance monitored. Physical health indicators were similar between herds with the exception of nasal discharge which was more prevalent in HH (P < 0.001). During winter, QBA yielded differences between herds over PC1 (arousal) (P = 0.032), but not PC2 (mood) (P = 0.139). Through summer, there was a strong difference across both PC1 (P < 0.001) and PC2 (P = 0.002), with HG exhibiting more positive behaviour. A difference was found in hair cortisol levels, with the greatest concentrations observed in HG (P = 0.011), however such a pattern was not seen for nasal mucus cortisol or for serotonin. Overall, providing summer grazing (HG) appeared to afford welfare benefits to the cattle as shown with more positive QBA assessments, but also slightly better health indicators, notwithstanding the higher levels of cortisol in that group

Genomic Relationships, Novel Loci, and Pleiotropic Mechanisms across Eight Psychiatric Disorders

Genetic influences on psychiatric disorders transcend diagnostic boundaries, suggesting substantial pleiotropy of contributing loci. However, the nature and mechanisms of these pleiotropic effects remain unclear. We performed analyses of 232,964 cases and 494,162 controls from genome-wide studies of anorexia nervosa, attention-deficit/hyper-activity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and Tourette syndrome. Genetic correlation analyses revealed a meaningful structure within the eight disorders, identifying three groups of inter-related disorders. Meta-analysis across these eight disorders detected 109 loci associated with at least two psychiatric disorders, including 23 loci with pleiotropic effects on four or more disorders and 11 loci with antagonistic effects on multiple disorders. The pleiotropic loci are located within genes that show heightened expression in the brain throughout the lifespan, beginning prenatally in the second trimester, and play prominent roles in neurodevelopmental processes. These findings have important implications for psychiatric nosology, drug development, and risk prediction.Peer reviewe

Delimiting knowledge transfer from training

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding of how and to whom knowledge is transferred from training to practice. Design/methodology/approach - Through recognising the interrelationship between knowledge, social network structure, and relational trust, social network methodology is applied to examine the importance of farmers' social networks in the process of knowledge transfer after engaging in learning through vocational training. The paper shows a synthesis of knowledge, social network structure and trust in relationships provides the basis for a tripartite model of knowledge transfer for which data was collected by conducting in-depth interviews. Using social network analysis this data maps the personal business networks of individuals that have participated in training explicitly detailing to whom knowledge has been transferred. Findings - The paper finds that farmers combine training with their tacit knowledge and through discussions with their family, and in some cases with professional contacts, new knowledge initiates various degrees of change within businesses. The familial, social and emotion attributes of business relations may determine the extent that knowledge is transferred in to practice. Research limitations/implications - Creating a snapshot of knowledge transfer provides valuable insights into the flows of information within a business and how training is deployed. Furthermore, it provides pointers that to improve the injections of knowledge into small land-based businesses requires more focussed intervention than is currently emphasised on programme based support schemes. Originality/value - The paper shows that applying social network analysis to small agricultural businesses to examine knowledge transfer is in itself innovative, particularly as the research draws upon a peer-group of businesses enabling some comparisons to be made. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Continuing Professional Development and Farm Business Performance

Economic and social pressures are transforming farm businesses and the structure of the agricultural industry, consequently it is presumed that farm management skills are under intense pressure. This creates a need for effective interaction between knowledge management and the actions taken by farm decision makers. However a definition of “successful farm business performance” is not easy to find and this, combined with literature that deals with managerial tasks in isolation, does not provide a clear picture for the farm manager pursuing self development. Farm businesses vary considerably in their attributes and resource base and the plethora of measurable factors mean that the manager needs to be able to identify what to measure and why on his own farm. In the UK it appears that most of the measures used in farming do not take into account the customer or human factors alluded to in other industries. Development of the skills and abilities of the decision makers to utilise techniques, interpret measures and relate them to their own business needs is increasingly important. The preliminary investigations described in this paper indicate that farmers and farm managers are aware of business management techniques but do not appear to integrate them fully into their own businesses

Polygenic transmission disequilibrium confirms that common and rare variation act additively to create risk for autism spectrum disorders

International audienceAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk is influenced by common polygenic and de novo variation. We aimed to clarify the influence of polygenic risk for ASD and to identify subgroups of ASD cases, including those with strongly acting de novo variants, in which polygenic risk is relevant. Using a novel approach called the polygenic transmission disequilibrium test and data from 6,454 families with a child with ASD, we show that polygenic risk for ASD, schizophrenia, and greater educational attainment is over-transmitted to children with ASD. These findings hold independent of proband IQ. We find that polygenic variation contributes additively to risk in ASD cases who carry a strongly acting de novo variant. Lastly, we show that elements of polygenic risk are independent and differ in their relationship with phenotype. These results confirm that the genetic influences on ASD are additive and suggest that they create risk through at least partially distinct etiologic pathways