WORKSHOPS & CONFERENCES
GFP Invited to deliver a Keynote Speech at the ASAS CSAS Annual Meeting
6 July – 10 July 2025
Prof Michael Lee delivered a talk titled “Building Bridges for Sustainable Livestock: The 10-year+ learnings from the Global Farm Platform”, co-authored by Jordana Rivero and Gleise M. da Silva, at the Building Bridges for Sustainable Livestock Symposium hosted by the Canadian Society of Animal Science. A remarkable session showing the power of collaboration to realise real change.
The GFP hosted a session at the AAAS-AAAP joint conference In Melbourne
8 July – 12 July 2024
Six institutions were represented in the session: Rothamsted Research’s North Wyke Farm Platform, University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Pioneer Farm, Massey University, Harper Adams University’s Farm, Kerala Veterinary & Animal Science University’s Silent Valley and the University of Western Australia.
The Global Farm Platform celebrated its 10th anniversary with a session providing valuable insights into long-term research projects of members from around the world.
GFP attended the Global Conference on Sustainable Livestock Transformation
25 – 27 September 2023
Four representatives from the GFP attended the first Global Conference on Sustainable Livestock Transformation, held at FAO headquarters in Rome from September 25-27, 2023. Dr. Alexandre Berndt (Embrapa, Brazil) delivered a keynote on synergies and trade-offs in livestock production and the environment, emphasizing GFP’s role in sustainability research. Professor Iain Wright (ILRI, Kenya) joined the ILRI delegation, with Shirley Tarawali (ILRI) giving a keynote on integrated approaches to sustainable livestock. Professor Michael Lee (Harper Adams, UK) engaged in Q&A sessions, and Dr. Jordana Rivero (Rothamsted Research, UK) promoted the GFP initiative.
GFP Workshop: Sustainable pasture production and fodder conservation strategies
31 August – 2 September 2023
The workshop took place at ILRI Nairobi, Kenya. The objectives were:
• Exchange lessons from different agroclimatic regions – what strategies can be adapted to humid, subhumid, and dry local conditions?
• Develop guidelines to adapt different strategies to local conditions.
• Explore economic, policy, social and cultural dimensions for implementing different strategies.
• Design joint activities and explore funding opportunities.
INIA Seminar: 28 years of the Palo a Pique crop-livestock rotations long-term experiment
28 July 2023
The technical seminar was organized to showcase the main findings of the research carried out in the Palo a Pique crop-livestock rotation. The seminar, titled “Keys for the sustainable intensification of livestock-agricultural systems in the eastern hills,” took place at INIA Treinta y Tres (Uruguay) and featured presentations throughout the day on topics related to pasture rotations with variable intensity crops, carbon balance and sequestration in the soil, forage, grain, and meat production, environmental footprint and indicators, as well as economic results.
Long-Term Experiments Conference: Meeting future challenges
20-22 June 2023
Three-day Hybrid event hosted online and at Rothamsted Research, West Common, Harpenden, UK
We introduced the GFP initiative in the session ‘LTE Networks and Platforms’ and presented the work planned on heat stress titled ‘Current and future adaptation strategies to heat stress for global livestock production systems in the context of climate change’.
GFP Workshop: Heat stress in livestock: identifying adaptation & mitigation strategies
20-23 FEBRUARY 2023
The objective of this workshop held in Chicago was to discuss existing research in the area of heat stress in ruminant livestock and outline a research paper about ‘Current and future adaptation strategies to heat stress for global livestock production systems in the context of climate change’. The main objective of this research paper is to identify current and future strategies on nutritional, genetic, engineering and system-level adaptation to heat stress for livestock production systems across the globe in the context of climate change.
Webinar: Steps to Sustainable Livestock in Covid and post Covid era
27 AUGUST 2020
Indian Veterinary Association, Kerala, Pookode Unit and Directorate of Entrepreneurship, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Jointly organized an international webinar to which +130 people attended virtually the presentation delivered by Prof Michael Lee (Rothamsted Research, UK).
GFP Workshop: Metrics for Sustainability – Connecting our farm platforms
24-26 FEBRUARY 2020
This workshop took place at Rothamsted Research, North Wyke (UK). The aims were:
• Establish data collection procedures with the aim of developing “the GFP Data Portal” and “the GFP Digital Twins” to later be developed into a GFP Data Paper
• Delineate two high impact papers on interventions in ruminant livestock systems in the face of challenging future environments
Global Challenge Research Fund Networking Grant Scheme workshop at Cape Coast University, Ghana
6-8 FEBRUARY 2020
“Opportunities for improved pasture and controlled grazing systems to address nomadic pastoralist and arable farmer conflicts in West Africa”
The Networking Grant facilitated collaboration between agricultural researchers, social scientists, practitioners, pastoralists, and arable farmers from West Africa and the UK. Their goal was to share expertise and explore sustainable livestock production through improved pasture and controlled grazing systems in West Africa, promoting co-existence of crop growers and herdsmen.
INIA International Workshop on Spatial Analysis in R
9-11 DECEMBER 2019
Prof Alexis Comber (Chair of Spatial Data Analytics, University of Leeds, UK) and Dr Paul Harris (Senior Research Scientist, Rothamsted Research, UK) led a workshop in INIA (uruguay) on spatial statistics. This 3-day workshop takes the participant through: (a) core concepts of spatial data and its display, (b) key methods of spatial analysis and (c) a selection of spatial regression techniques and associated inference. Click “View” to access the leaflet and programme and access the following link for practical material:
Embrapa Southeast Livestock, Sao Carlos, Brazil
6-8 DECEMBER 2018
A Rothamsted Research’ ASA Newton Fund-sponsored visit to Embrapa Southeast Livestock (SEL) took place in December 2018 as a reciprocal visit to encourage collaboration between Embrapa and Rothamsted. There were numerous opportunities to work collaboratively, particularly regarding the North Wyke Farm Platform and Embrapa’s similar platforms, so successful proposals were submitted to enable research initiatives between North Wyke and Embrapa SEL.
Final workshop of the IPA Project in INIA, Uruguay
3-4 DECEMBER 2018
Rothamsted Research’ investigators visited INIA La Estanzuela and INIA Treinta y Tres in the framework of an Institute Partnering Award project. The overall objective of this project is to develop collaborations and share knowledge between two world renowned research institutes with expertise in grassland/livestock research. It is aimed to develop farm and environmental metrics using long-term data from two grassland livestock experimental platforms with comparable climate but contrasting geographies and soil types.
GFP Phase two workshop – Africa and India meeting – sustainability metrics development
11-13 NOVEMBER 2018
Objective: standing on the recent University of Bristol / Rothamsted Research publication on agricultural sustainability metrics designed for a single farm (doi: 10.1017/S1751731118000502), discuss and agree upon the framework for international (GFP-wide) comparison of farm-level sustainability, publication strategy and funding strategy.
Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef conference
9-12 OCTOBER 2018
Professor Michael Lee delivered the invited talk on “Sustainability metrics associated with product quality and land use” at the conference held at Kilkenny, Ireland.
EAAP 2018 – 69th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science
27-31 AUGUST 2018
Professor Michael Lee delivered the invited talk on “Agricultural sustainability metrics based on land required for production of essential human nutrients” at the conference held at Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Global farm platform workshop: phase two
12-13 JULY 2018
Global farm Platform members from USA and UK met at USDA Dairy Forage Research Centre, Madison, and at Pioneer Farm, University of Wisconsin Platteville to discuss about the second phase of the GFP: global sustainability metrics. They agreed the list of metrics to be collected across farm platforms.
The American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) and the Canadian Society of Animal Science (CSAS) Annual Meeting
8-11 JULY 2018
Professor Michael Lee delivered the invited talk “Steps to Sustainable Ruminant Livestock Production – the role of instrumented farms and networks” at the annual meeting held at Vancouver, Canada.
WUN Conference and AGM 2018
20-25 MAY 2018
Professor Michael Lee chaired the session dedicated to review the Farm Platform project and future steps for the project. The session introduced new topics that could change the way many people think about agriculture and food. Michael also presented the Global Farm Platform to the attendees.
CIAT Partnering meeting at the Farmers club in London
DECEMBER 2017
The overarching goal for this collaboration was to deliver new kinds of management tools that support farmers in the UK and Africa to sustainably intensify livestock production.
ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meetings
22-25 OCTOBER 2017
Professor Michael Lee delivered the talk “Steps to Sustainable Ruminant Livestock Production” at the conference held at Tampa, Florida.
Livestock Sustainability and Global Challenges Workshop
18-20 SEPTEMBER 2017
We reviewed current developments in sustainable livestock production, the progress of the Global Farm Platform and its satellite initiatives, and explored future research opportunities in light of the changing funding landscape in the UK and Internationally. The workshop was held in Bristol from the 18th to the 20th September 2017.
EAAP 2017 – 68th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science
28 AUGUST – 1 SEPTEMBER 2017
Professor Michael Lee chaired the session “Local solutions, global answer: facing global challenges with local productions systems?” at the conference held at Tallinn.
Workshop on dairy co-operatives in Africa
1-5 AUGUST 2017
Workshops held at Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Lliongwe (Malawi) on dairy co-operatives in Africa with the participation of LUANAR, SSLLP and ILRI. These workshops were organised by Barefoot Lightning and funded by the project “Pasture for Africa: Earth Observation to deliver solutions for African livestock farmers” (UK Space Agency grant).
Free Range Dairy Conference
7 MARCH 2017
Professor Michael Lee delivered the invited talk on ‘Grazing towards sustainability and the Global Farm Platform” during the conference organised by the Free Range Dairy Network (freerangedairy.org/2017/03/free-range-dairy-network-conference), held at Stafford, UK).
Sustainable livestock production for Africa
7-10 FEBRUARY 2017
The strategic workshop was held in February over three days and was co-hosted by the Biosciences for East and Central Africa/ international Livestock Research Institute Hub (BecA-ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya. We focused on strengthening collaborations relating to BecA-ILRIs core Molecular Plant Science and Grassland-Livestock Research which closely aligns to the BBSRC-supported research within the strategic ‘Smart Crop Protection’ and Tailoring Plant Metabolism’ and ‘Soils to Nutrition’ programmes at Rothamsted.
INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP IMPORTANCE OF SCIENTIFIC CATTLE WELFARE MEASURES WITHIN A GLOBAL CONTEXT
13-17 DECEMBER 2016
Organized as part of the research project between KVASU and University of Bristol (BBSRC funded). It is an urgent need to increase production and productivity from livestock, without increasing cost of production or compromising the welfare of livestock.
Australian Association of Ruminant Nutrition CONFERENCE
18-19 OCTOBER 2016
Michel Lee delivered the invited talk “The role of ruminant livestock in global food security” and presented the Global Farm Platform initiative to the conference delegates.
EAAP 2016 – 67th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science
29 AUGUST – 2 SEPTEMBER 2016
The Global Farm Platform sponsored the event held at Belfast and had a stand to attract interest and partners.
China Workshop on Sustainable forage systems
12-13 AUGUST 2016
Prof. Michael Lee presented the North Wyke Farm Platform and the Global Farm Platform (GFP) to Chinese academics in the workshop Held at Hulunbuir and organised by the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). This workshop led to CAS joining the GFP and looking to develop a farm platform in Inner Mongolia.
BSAS Annual Conference 2016
6-7 APRIL 2016
Invited talk on ‘Steps to Sustainable Livestock – The Global Farm Platform’ by Professor Michael Lee at the British Society of Animals Sciences Annual conference held at the University of Chester.
International Conference Steps to Sustainable Livestock
12-15 JANUARY
2016Participants from over 40 countries attended this international conference where a diverse range of topics covered included:
- impacts of animal nutrition, disease and welfare on livestock productivity
- resolving and rethinking food waste
- food sovereignty and security
- public health and land use
International Workshop on Sustainable Livestock Systems and Project Meeting (BBSRC-IPA project 2015) on Health and Welfare of Dairy Cattle in India
7-21 AUGUST 2015
A combined workshop for the Global Farm Platform and the UK-India Partnering Award project ‘Health and welfare consequences of maladaptation of high-producing cross-bred dairy cattle to environmental stressors in India‘ was held at Kerala, India, at the Thiruvazhamkunnu Farm Platform.
GII Training Workshop on Sustainable Dairy Production
5-6 JANUARY 2015
A two day training programme on sustainable dairy production funded by the Global Innovation Initiative was held at Pookode on 5-6 January 2015. Thirty progressive dairy farmers from Wayanad and Kozhikkode Districts attended the training programme.
Animal Health and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity Network – FIRST REGIONAL WORKSHOP
5 NOVEMBER 2014
The Animal Health and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity is a United Kingdom (UK) led initiative of the Global Research Alliance (GRA) on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. The Network brings together researchers to explore links and synergies between animal diseases and GHG emissions intensities, and possible mitigation through disease control. The first regional Network workshop focussed on Africa and was held on 5th November 2014 in Addis Ababa.
GLOBAL FARM PLATFORM – GII Second Project Meeting –– Madison, WI (USA)
24-26 NOVEMBER 2014
The second meeting of the Global Innovation Initiative (GII) partnership on Global Farm Platforms for Sustainable Ruminant Production was held in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, 24th-26th November. The workshop was also marked by the signing of the Global Farm Platform Statement of Intent by Professor Molly Jahn on behalf of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Global Innovation Initiative (GII) and Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) WORKSHOP
27 OCTOBER 2014
An International Workshop on ‘Efficient use of crop residues and by-products for sustainable development of China’s ruminant industry’ was held in Nanjing, China on the 27th October 2014. This workshop was organized by Zhejiang University, Nanjing Agricultural University, and China Agricultural University, and held at the 4th International Symposium on Gastrointestinal Microbial Ecology and Functionality.
WUN Workshop: University of Western Australia, Perth
15-19 SEPTEMBER 2014
Global Farm Platform partners met last week (15-19 Sep 2014) in Perth at the University of Western Australia (UWA), for an exciting and dynamic workshop hosted by Winthrop Professor Graeme Martin of the UWA Institute of Agriculture. The workshop was held under the Worldwide Universities Network research development fund project Global Farm Platforms for Optimisation of Grazing Livestock Production Systems.
North Wyke & University of Bristol meeting
26-27 JUNE 2014
GFP partners met in the UK to share experience and to shape the direction of the project. Partners were hosted by the University of Bristol and visited the North Wyke Farm Platform in Devon, UK.
Also, around 50 academics from the South West of England attended the Cabot Institute Seminar on Food Systems and Security together with 10 delegates from the WUN network who went on to attend the partners meeting.
Achim Doberman, Director of Rothamsted Research gave a public address at the University of Bristol on the Sustainable Development Solutions Network.