Project: Holistic Production to Reduce the Ecological Footprint of Meat

Acronym	EcoLamb (Reference Number: 48)
Duration	01/09/2017 - 29/02/2020
Project Topic	The project will assess the sustainability of diverse European sheep production systems focusing on the ecological footprint, animal welfare aspects and nutrition value of lamb meat. The outcomes of these assessments will be used to understand the potential future barriers that limit the innovative capacity and development of the sector and the opportunities that may provide a future market niche against competitive products from other global markets. The project will engage trans-national research and industry stakeholders from 6 countries made up of Germany, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey to analyse on numerous case study farms; resource-efficient, competitive and low-carbon lamb production models. Termed "EcoLamb", the ecologically sound and nutritionally superior lamb meat identified by the consortium will be branded and marketed through out Europe as state-of-the-art meat production technology. Direct linkage between animal welfare, meat quality and pharmaceutical use will also be determined using innovative Precision Farming techniques. Farm solutions that incorporate consumer expectations for animal welfare and meat quality will enhance the competitiveness of Europe's lamb meat sector. The project will produce a tool box of recommendations for productive sheep farm management, supply chain and marketing on how to improve the acceptability of lamb meat by consumers. The multidisciplinary approach and the multi-actor involvement of the EU sheep sector will assist in re-designing critical aspects to increase society acceptance and the place of lamb meat in future diets. The outcomes of the project will be used by stakeholders to promote changes in farm management, marketing and processing of meat from sheep. Additionally, results will be used by farm consultants, farmer groups and policy officers to re-design consulting approaches and plan new initiatives to make all aspects of the European sheep industry more sustainable.
Website	visit project website
Network	SusAn
Call	SusAn Call 2016

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	University of Stuttgart	Partner	Germany
2	Mountain Research Centre	Partner	Portugal
3	Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León	Partner	Spain
4	Meat Technology Centre of Galicia	Partner	Spain
5	Servicio Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario	Partner	Spain
6	Turin University	Partner	Italy
7	Univerza V Novi Gorici	Partner	Slovenia
8	Red Rock Agricultural Pastoral Research and Development	Coordinator	Türkiye