1 Dec 2023
Cost to farming is £710 million a year, but collaborative projects are helping.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Image © littlewolf1989 / Adobe Stock
Endemic diseases are costing the farming industry £710 million a year, but research projects are helping to deliver effective health outcomes, event attendees have been told.
A Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Endemic Livestock Disease Initiative event celebrated the achievements of transdisciplinary research in attempting to reduce level and impact of endemic disease in the UK livestock sector.
The event, hosted at the NFU’s headquarters in Stoneleigh, brought together animal health figures and farming representatives and policymakers from the AHDB, BBSRC, BCVA, BVA, Defra and others. Each shared current priorities in the sector.
Representing the event organiser Kingshay – part of the VetPartners group – senior clinical director Tim Potter believed the day provided an opportunity to showcase the initiative’s focus on co-design.
He said: “We deliver evidence-based livestock solutions, and our ongoing trials, investigation and industry reports fully align with the approach of the BBSRC initiative. We’re therefore delighted to be involved in bringing so many industry leaders together with researchers to consider its positive impact.”
Adding that endemic diseases cost the farming industry £710 million a year, Dr Potter added: “Research is fundamental to addressing specific animal health challenges, but this is most effective when farmers are invited to contribute to the process, as we’ve seen today.
“To start reducing the economic, environmental and emotional costs of disease, we must drive change at farm level. This means involving farmers from the outset in scoping a project’s parameters.
“During these early-stage interactions, academics must identify the barriers and specific challenges that farmers face, as well as promote knowledge exchange throughout the lifetime of the research.”
The BBSRC and its co-funders have issued £11.5 million in grant funding to 36 bioscience projects that encompass 45 partnerships.
