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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.

ACER Goes to WAFL!

Hey everyone! Julia Saraceni here from the ACER Team.

Just last week, Penny Lawlis and I traveled to Florence, Italy to attend the 9th International Conference on the Welfare Assessment of Animals at Farm Level (WAFL). It was a great trip with lots to see and do, and I’m thrilled to be able to share some of the highlights with you all in this month’s newsletter!

At ACER, animal welfare is a foundational part of the work we do every day. The 2-day conference was full of individual sessions, poster presentations, and of course, great Italian food! On Day 1, Penny presented in the “Humans in the Loop - Role of Sociology in Improving Farm Animal Welfare” session, with a talk about her and Steven Roche’s work adapting food safety audit principles to train evaluators to consistently interpret and assess welfare on dairy farms. Penny and Steve developed this ROVR model (Review, Observe, Verify, Report) in 2020 and have since been training evaluators for the FARM Program using this very technique.

The second day of the conference began with a session on "The Future of Animal Welfare: Policy and Science”, where I had the pleasure of giving a talk on international approaches to dairy quality assurance (QA). It was great to share the results of our recent work looking at current and future focus areas of dairy QA programs and discuss this project with fellow conference attendees. Check out a case study on this project on our website here! This conference was a great opportunity to learn about the latest animal welfare research from world leading scientists on topics such as animal welfare during end of life practices, on-farm animal welfare assessment, expanding our view of good welfare, and the role of cognition in animal welfare.

It was an incredible experience to attend and present at WAFL this year. I had an excellent time meeting so many new faces, learning about international research projects, connecting with old friends, and sharing some of the cool and exciting things we are working on at ACER!

Steve Roche Leads Animal Care Evaluator Training in Idaho, United States

Steve was in Boise, Idaho last month leading another Evaluator training for the National Dairy FARM Program! ACER has worked with the FARM Program since 2020 to develop and implement annual certification and recertification training for 2nd party Evaluators and 3rd party Verifiers in animal care.

Learn more about the FARM Program on their website!

Resource Round-Up: Managing Bunker Silo Effluent

Understanding the environmental impact of farm runoff is crucial for sustainable agriculture.As part of ACER’s work with Dairy Farmers of Canada in sharing Cluster 3 research findings, this video was produced to share research on silage effluent and its effect on phosphorus levels in the surrounding watershed. This important work was conducted by a team from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the University of Waterloo, including Andy VanderZaag and Merrin Macrae.Discover the latest technologies being developed to help farmers manage and reduce effluent and watch the full video 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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