Realising the Links between Quality Food Production and Biodiversity Protection

Project Status: Completed
Type of Project: Research Project
Principal Investigator: Prof Henry Buller, University of Exeter (Email)
Website

End of project summary

Policy and Practice Notes

Objectives

This research seeks to develop opportunities for a ‘win-win’ situation where higher food quality and value is directly linked to maintaining and improving the biodiversity within production systems, and where this will have positive effects for rural economies. The interdisciplinary research will provide evidence and analysis of the relationship between food quality (defined according to both scientific criteria and consumer perception), animal diet (analysed in terms of feed inputs) and natural biodiversity (considered in terms of species diversity) and relate this to implications for land use management, farm practice and processes of rural socio-economic development.

At a specified number of farm sites, management practices and quality food product chains will be examined. The biodiversity of grazing areas will be evaluated to determine herbage feeding value (including mineral composition of soil and herbage with particular note being taken of pasture species recognized as having potential positive or negative effects on product quality). For beef and lamb products, fatty acid composition and vitamin E will be measured. Trained taste panels and consumer focus groups will evaluate product quality and compare meat and cheese products from pasture types with commercial control samples. The land-use management and rural development implications of naturally embedded quality food production chains will be assessed and recommendations for suitable regulatory and management practices made.

PUBLICATIONS

Journal Articles

Hopkins, A. (2005) Cashing in on biodiversity. Grass and Forage Farmer, 81, Spring 2005, page 20

Hopkins, A. and Holz, B. (2006) ‘Grassland for agriculture and nature conservation: production, quality and multi-functionality’. Agronomy Research, 4, 3-20.

Books, Book Chapters and Conference Proceedings
Dunn, R.M., Hopkins, A., Buller, H., Jones, O., Morris, C., Wood, J.D., Whittington, F.M. and Kirwan, J. (2007) “Can biological diversity act as an input into sustainable rural development? A case-study using salt marsh-raised lamb”. in Hopkins, J.J., Duncan, A.J., McCracken, D.I., Peel, S. and Tallowi, J.R.B. (eds) High Value Grassland British Grassland Society, Cirencester, UK (pp. 158-166).

Wood, J.D., Richardson, R.I., Scollan, N.D., Hopkins, A., Dunn, R., Buller, H. and Whittington, F.M. (2007). “Quality of meat from biodiverse grassland”. In Hopkins, J.J., Duncan, A.J., McCracken, D.I., Peel, S. and Tallowin, J.R.B. (eds) High Value Grassland British Grassland Society, Cirencester, UK. (pp. 107-116).

Conference Papers and Presentations

Buller, H. (2005) "Cows, sheep, grass, biodiversity… and wolves" Presentation to the Mammal Society symposium, ‘Wild mammals and the human food chain’, London, November 2005

Buller, H. (2005) "Manger la biodiversité" Presented INRA/RELU workshop, Chambery, France.

Buller, H. (2005) "Mountains, cows, grass, cheese" Presentation to the CRE, University of Newcastle, November 2005.

Buller, H. and Winter, M.(2005) "Overview of integrated food chain research: where are we now?" Presentation to RELU conference Rural Economy and Land Use: The Challenge for Research 19-21 Jan 2005, Birmingham.
http://www.relu.ac.uk/events/Jan05/Presentations/p5 Buller.PDF

Buller, H. (2005) "The links between quality food production and biodiversity protection" Presentation to RELU conference Rural Economy and Land Use: The Challenge for Research 19-21 Jan 2005, Birmingham.
http://www.relu.ac.uk/events/Jan05/Presentations/p4 Buller.pdf

Dunn R.M., Hopkins A., Buller H., Jones O., Morris C., Wood J.D., Whittington F. and Kirwan J. (2005) "Farm scale investigations of the links between pasture biodiversity and quality food production in the UK" Presentation to the 13th Meeting of the FAO-CIHEAM Mountain Pastures Network (Quality Production and Quality of the Environment in the Mountain Pastures of an Enlarged Europe) September 15-17, 2005, Udine, Italy (to be published in FAO REUR technical series).

Buller, H. (2006) “Paradoxes of place in European food chains” Presentation to Rural Economy and Land Use: Enabling Knowledge Exchange, University of Manchester, 18-20 January.

Buller, H. (2006) Presentation to the FARMA national conference, Torquay, November.

Dunn, R.M., Hopkins, A., Buller, H., Jones, O., Morris, C., Wood, J.D., Whittington, F. and Kirwan, J. (2006) “Eating Biodiversity – a means of meeting the ecological challenges of agriculture” Presentation to British Ecological Society Annual Conference, University of Oxford, September.

Jones, O., Buller, H., Morris, C., and Kirwan, J. (2006) “Forward to the new past? New formations of farmer knowledges in ecologically founded alternative agri-food networks (AAFNS)” Presentation to Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers Annual Conference, 30 August – 1 September.

Jones, O., Buller, H., Morris, C., and Kirwan. J. (2006) “The case of the missing ecologies: really embedding alternative/local food networks within nature in the pursuit of ecological and social sustainability”, Presentation to Royal Geographical Society/ Institute of British Geographers Annual Conference, 30 August – 1 September.

Morris, C. (2006) “Marketing natural foods”. Presentation to RELU/AWM Workshop on Sustainable Food Chains and Rural and Regional Development, Birmingham, 11 May.

Morris, C. (2006) “Society and rural natures”. Presentation to Centre for the Environment: Research (Capability Briefing) University of Nottingham, 18 December.

Whittington, FM., Dunn, R., Nute, G.R., Richardson, R.I. and Wood, J.D. (2006) “Effect of pasture type on lamb product quality”. Presentation to 9th Annual Langford Food Industry Conference, ‘New Developments in Sheepmeat Quality’ 24-25th May, Bristol, UK. Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science, P. 27-31.

Buller, H. (2007) “Can we change the way producers add value to their products” Presentation to Relu Conference “Unlocking change in the food chain”, London, 7 November.

Buller, H. (2007) “Counting sheep: Interdisciplinary approaches to the notion of 'quality' in the food chain”. Presentation to British Association for the Advancement of Science, 2008 Festival of Science, York University, 13 September.

Buller, H. (2007) “Eating biodiversity and the commodification of the non-human” Presentation to the Annual Conference of the Association of American Geographers, San Francisco, April.

Buller, H. et al. (2007) “Tasty science” Presentation to the Institute of British Geographers Annual Conference, London. August.

Morris, C. and Kirwan, J. (2007) “Getting with the (de)fetish: emotional value and  naturally embedded food products”.  Pesentation to the European Society for Rural Sociology Annual Conference, Wageningen, August.

Conference Proceedings
Hopkins, A., Buller, H., Morris, C. and Wood, J. (2005) “Eating biodiversity: investigating the links between grass biodiversity and quality food production” in Milne, J.A. (ed.) Pastoral systems in marginal environments. Proceedings of a satellite workshop of the XXth International Grassland Conference, Glasgow, July 3rd–6th. Wageningen, Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers.

Whittington, F.M., Dunn, R., Nute, G.R., Richardson, R.I. and Wood, J.D. (2006) “Effect of pasture type on lamb product quality”. [Presentation to 9th Annual Langford Food Industry Conference, ‘New Developments in Sheepmeat Quality’ 24-25 May, Bristol, UK.] Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science, P. 27-31.