PrOPara - Tackling the parasitological challenges in organic ruminant farming practices

• Forschungsstelle: BLW
• Projektnummer: 07.12_9
• Projekttitel Englisch: PrOPara - Tackling the parasitological challenges in organic ruminant farming practices

Schlüsselwörter (Deutsch)

Endoparasiten,Wiederkäuer, biologische Landwirtschaft, alternative Parasitenbekämpfung

Schlüsselwörter (Englisch)

endoparasites, ruminants, organic farming, alternative parasite control

Schlüsselwörter (Französisch)

endoparasites, ruminants, agriculture biologique, contrôle de parasites alternatif

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

Parasitism is a major challenge to the health and welfare of organic livestock. This project we will evaluate available means to monitor and control endoparasites through a series of farm-based parasitological and socio-economical studies under organic conditions. The overall objective of this project is to generate information and tools that can be readily used by organic farmers to improve animal health and welfare, and thus to facilitate the implementation of alternative approaches to control parasitism. Participating countries are Denmark, France, Germany, Lithuania, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands und the UK.

Main activities

• assessing existing knowledge from research, development and benchmarking studies on parasite control, with on-farm trials
• associating novel data on disease prevalence with risk factors and control measures
• develop, refine and evaluate user friendly decision support tools
• performing cost-benefit analysis on control measures available for organic ruminants
• developing and deliver technical innovation to facilitate deployment of sustainable parasite control strategies

Projektziele (Englisch)

The consortium will engage with stakeholders beyond the academic community, farmers and advisors at a first stage and standard-setting organisations, EC and national decision-makers at a later stage, to promote awareness and knowledge and to further explore the wider societal implications of the research work. One of the desired outcomes will be a reduction in the use of commercial drugs for helminthosis control, which will have a positive impact on the environment and slow down the development of anthelmintic resistance. Project innovations will also improve sustainability of organic ruminant production, which has positive implications in improving farming income, and as a consequence human welfare and cultural development of rural communities. To ensure a significant impact on this, a specific work package dedicated to cost-benefit and farmers’ acceptance analysis has been included to identify approaches that will facilitate the wide deployment of integrated strategies by organic ruminant farmers.