Project Overview
Watch our short video introduction to the project and its key objectives.
Project video, publications and engagement activities
Watch our short video introduction to the project and its key objectives.
The TRADE project aims to transform the debate around livestock systems and foster sustainable food system outcomes through a multi-faceted approach. By integrating stakeholder engagement, system modelling, and research on both production and consumption aspects, TRADE seeks to identify viable pathways for a sustainable and equitable livestock sector. Below are the summaries of the key work packages contributing to this goal:
WP1: Narrative Synthesis and Stakeholder Engagement for Sustainable Livestock Futures
WP1 involves a comprehensive synthesis of narratives and stakeholder engagement to understand potential livestock future pathways. It includes a published paper on Worldviews, values and perspectives towards the future of the livestock sector and upcoming papers with a global and UK-based review of sustainable livestock literature. Additionally, stakeholder workshops are being conducted to co-design Shared Socio-Economic Pathways for UK livestock systems (UK-Livestock-SSPs), bringing together participants from industry, policy, and the third sector. Stakeholder mapping and key informant interviews were conducted to inform workshop design and ensure diverse representation. This work package also includes a forthcoming paper on public engagement through serious games, focusing on fostering dialogue and critical thinking about sustainable agri-food futures.
WP2: Assessing Production-Side Innovations for Sustainable Livestock Breeding
WP2 assesses production-side innovations aimed at enhancing sustainable livestock breeding. It includes a forthcoming paper on a modified Delphi study with key actors in the livestock breeding community, exploring novel technologies and the factors influencing their uptake, such as target producers, costs, benefits, readiness, and barriers. This work also identifies areas where investment is most urgently needed to drive impactful change within the sector.
WP3: Consumption-Side Analysis: Meat and Dairy Consumption Patterns and Substitution Behaviours
This work package examines meat and dairy consumption patterns, and consumer behaviours related to sustainability, primarily using national surveys such as the UK-wide National Diet and Nutrition Survey and the Scottish Health Survey. For example, we recently explored whether declines in UK meat consumption are driven by meat-free days, meals, or smaller portion sizes and reviews meat substitution behaviours. It includes a published paper on Smaller meat portions contribute the most to reducing meat consumption in the United Kingdom.
WP4: System Modelling: Exploring Scenarios and Interactions in Livestock Futures
WP4 uses the socio-economic Parsimonious Land Use Model (PLUM) to explore potential outcomes of various narrative scenarios involving production- and consumption-side innovations. This work package identifies trade-offs, responses, and cross-scale interactions within the livestock system. The insights gained contribute to understanding the dynamic relationships within the sector and inform policy and decision-making for sustainable livestock futures. Upcoming papers will explore the interpretation of policy targets under different value perspectives, including how technology and efficiency improvements from the livestock sector may develop using data from WP2, and explore, using modelling, metrics describing socio-economic and bio-physical outcomes.