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
Publications, Data and Other Outputs
End of project summary
Policy and Practice Notes

Impact of research on policy and practice

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.