Research projects

SusAn funds excellent research for a sustainable animal production sector in Europe

In 2016, a first funding activity in the form of a joint call was launched and pooled a total of 16,0 M EUR of national and regional funds topped up by EU cofunding. As a result of this co-funded call 14 transnational research projects were funded.

From mid 2017 onwards, 102 research teams from 20 European countries started their work for two and half or three years to achieve new insights for the field of sustainable animal production taking into account a systems and interdisciplinary approach addressing multiple objectives under the following three Research Areas:

  • Improve the productivity, resilience and competitiveness of European Animal Production
  • Improve and manage resource use to reduce waste and enhance the environmental sustainability of European Animal Production
  • Improve on-farm practices to enhance consumer acceptibility and address societal challenges associated with animal welfare, product quality and safety, biodiversity and provision of ecosystem services

More info on each project can be found by clicking on the project title:

Pigs:

  • PigSys - Improving pig system performance through a whole system approach
  • SusPig - Sustainability of pig production through improved feed efficiency
  • SusPigSys - Sustainable pig production systems
  • SuSi - Sustainability in pork production with immunocastration

Cattle:

  • FREEWALK - Develop economic sound free walk farming systems elevating animal welfare, health and manure quality, while being appreciated by society
  • ReDiverse - Biodiversity within and between European Red dairy breeds – conservation through utilization
  • SusCatt - Increasing productivity, resource efficiency and product quality to increase the economic competitiveness of forage and grazing based cattle production systems
  • SUSTAINBEEF - Co-definition and evaluation of SUSTAINable BEEF farming systems based on resources non edible by humans

Sheep:

  • EcoLamb - Holistic production to reduce the ecological footprint of meat
  • SusShep - Sustainable sheep production
  • SusTradeOff - Understanding trade-offs between health and efficiency to improve competitiveness and sustainability of animal production by breeding and management

Other:

  • ANIMALFUTURE - Steering animal production systems towards sustainable future
  • BPRACTICES -  New indicators and on-farm practices to improve honeybee health in the Aetina tumida era in Europe
  • PEGaSus - Phosphorus efficiency in Gallus gallus and Sus scrofa: Bridging the gaps in the phosphorus value chain