Many of our members are already implementing projects, and an easy step in the direction of creating our own portfolio is to collect information on those and share findings, as well as new questions or unresolved issues that have arisen from them.
So please, do share information on projects that you have been involved in, so that we can create a library of materials that can be referred to others with interests in the same area. Furthermore, please contact us with ideas for further work that builds on the projects with which you have already been involved.
Through the participation of so many leading beef players, we have the potential to build partnerships that include a wide range of players globally. Together, we can look for any required external financing for such efforts.
Many of you were able to get a preview of some of the material from Peter Byck's upcoming film series "Roots so Deep" back in November at the Global Conference. It's great material and his channel is well worth a browse (see for example here, Soil Carbon Cowboys, which includes Spanish subtitles). These are great films, and we would love to see similar research and material from other regions.
Similarly, Guardians of the Grasslands and Too Close to Home from Canada, are excellent material to share and help people, who maybe only have heard negative information about cattle raising, to appreciate its positive possibilities.
And while I am on the subject of films, Sacred Cow is both a film and an excellent book full of useful references.
I would be delighted if you could share your own materials. They definitely don't have to be in the form of polished films like the above. In fact, maybe a possible project could be to create a film about some work that you feel has been particularly valuable where you are, but has not had the exposure you feel it deserves. Other possibilities are to replicate things that have been successfully demonstrated somewhere else, but have not yet been tried where you are.
Our three goal areas are obvious places to start in looking for projects, under the broad headings of Climate, Nature Positive Production and Animal Health and Welfare. I feel the majority of sustainability projects could be accommodated, because there are so many linkages between sustainability aspects when you look at systems holistically.
Over the coming weeks, we will be revisiting the terms of reference for each of our working groups to make sure that we have a core group of experts in the technical areas involved in each of them coordinating activities and helping to drive progress and reporting.
We will also need volunteers in each of those working groups to help identify and work on project ideas that can help deliver against our goals. If there is an area you would like to be involved with, please share your interest by getting in touch with Ruaraidh or Josefina or Julie.