Climate-Smart and Sustainable Animal Food Value Chains
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Products".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2024) | Viewed by 10041
Special Issue Editors
Interests: socioeconomic sustainability of livestock production systems; agricultural economics; farm management; multifunctionality
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Animal food value chains face numerous structural, operational and environmental challenges that challenge their sustainability. Farmers and processors face increasing pressure to intensify production, driven by global market demand and volatile prices, while simultaneously addressing consumer expectations for “green” products with low footprints and high animal welfare. However, these objectives are often conflicting, as the intensification of livestock production systems comes with hefty expenses, animal health and welfare issues, as well as largely negative environmental effects related mainly to GHG emissions, nutrient contamination of soil and groundwater pollution. In addition, logistical packaging and other functions also have environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Thus, the development of sustainable animal production should be considered from a holistic and global perspective in order to capture the cumulative effect of all actors involved across the value chain of animal products. With the adoption of efficient climate-smart technologies, food value chains can make a decisive step towards improving the productivity and resilience of livestock farmers and other value chain actors, and will contribute to the adaptation and mitigation of climate change.
The aims of this Special Issue are to bring together contributions from a wide range of disciplines related to the concept of sustainable animal food value chains and climate-smart interventions in order to analyze the current situation, to facilitate more effective knowledge exchange and implementation on this topic, to promote best practices and innovations, and to discuss the potential and the limitations of the sustainable animal food value chain framework. Contributions sharing results of research projects and real-life industry applications are particularly welcomed.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcomed. Research areas include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Socioeconomic analysis of sustainable livestock systems and animal food value chains;
- Sustainable management of livestock farms and valorization of livestock product value chains;
- Circular economy in livestock production—byproduct and water valorization;
- Modernization of animal value chains/precision livestock farming with technological trends;
- Extensive livestock production, pastoralism and traditional ecological knowledge;
- Production of artisanal food of animal origin as an alternative to industrialized production;
- Mitigation/adaptation measures to climate change;
- Innovations and best practices for sustainable livestock production systems and value chains;
- Policies for sustainable and efficient animal food value chains.
Dr. Athanasios Ragkos
Dr. Georgia Koutouzidou
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- animal food value chains
- animal health and welfare
- animal production
- adoption
- climate change
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