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Welcome to Field Notes; the newsletter aiming to bring you the latest news and updates in agriculture, agri-food science, and One Health research.

Dave Renaud Receives Lallemand Forward Award for Scientific Excellence in Dairy Nutrition

Congratulations to ACER Team Member Dave Renaud for receiving the Lallemand Forward Award for Scientific Excellence in Dairy Nutrition!

The award was presented at the ADSA annual meeting awards ceremony last week in West Palm Beach, Florida. This award was established to recognize outstanding achievements in research, teaching, extension, and industry in applied dairy nutrition by individuals in the first 10 years of their professional careers.Join us in congratulating Dave on this achievement!

July Article of the Month

Invited review: Determinants of farmers’ adoption of management-based strategies for infectious disease prevention and control

Published in the Journal of Dairy Science

Authorship: Caroline Ritter, Jolanda Jansen, Steve Roche, David F. Kelton, Cindy L. Adams, Karin Orsel, Ron J. Erskine, Geart Benedictus, Theo J. G. M. Lam, and Herman W. Barkema 

Summary of the article

Farmers often do not adopt recommended management practices or enroll in voluntary disease control programs, highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of the factors influencing their decisions. This study reviews literature to offer recommendations for policymakers, industry representatives, researchers, veterinarians, and other stakeholders to motivate farmers to adopt best practices and participate in disease prevention and control programs. Key factors influencing adoption include farmers' recognition of the problem, perceived feasibility and effectiveness of the strategy, and technical knowledge. Farmers also weigh the advantages and disadvantages, influenced by internal motivators like pride and social norms. Effective extension tools include mass media for broad information dissemination and personal approaches like participatory learning and individual communication. Collaboration among stakeholders, supported by social scientists and communication specialists, is essential to create an environment that encourages on-farm change and consistent messaging.

Read the open access article here →

Resource Round Up

Check Out This New Animal Welfare Podcast Series!

On behalf of Dairy Farmers of Canada, ACER has developed a series of podcasts sharing key findings and insights from Dr Nina Von Keyserlingk and Dr Dan Weary’s Industry Research Chair in Animal Welfare. This 7 episode mini-series covers topics from the specifics of calf weaning and feeding to making on-farm changes and future outlooks on animal welfare.  Listen to episode 1 of the Animal Welfare Mini-Series here on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts!

This work is part of Dairy Farmers of Canada’s Paths to On-Farm Excellence podcast series. You can read more about the project here.

Are there other topics or questions you are interested in?

Email us at [email protected]. We always welcome your questions and feedback!

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