Work Packages – SUPER-G

The SUPER-G consortium integrates an interdisciplinary team with a strong track record of working with industry, policy makers and other key land-use stakeholder groups. The consortium has extensive expertise in biodiversity, agronomy, livestock production, grassland management, animal science, soil science, social science, agricultural economics, policy evaluation, water quality, climate regulation, soil erosion and flood control; across five biogeographic regions. Animal health and welfare will also be carefully considered in every aspect of our research and innovation. All research will be contextualised through a responsible research and innovation (RRI) approach, which addresses knowledge exchange with key stakeholders, including people living in relevant rural communities.

A multi-actor platform involving a wide range of stakeholders in five biogeographic regions has been formed to develop sustainable grassland systems and related management options that are practical, cost effective and deliver a desired range of ES.

A network of commercial and experimental farms spread over the five biogeographic regions has been established for benchmarking, synthesising and demonstrating innovative grassland practices.

The emphasis will be on co-production and co-ownership of solutions. Project partners will work together in seven work packages.

The project is co-ordinated and managed in WP1, by ADAS (www.adas.uk),
to ensure multi-actor functioning across WPs and a transdisciplinary approach.
A key part of this work package is the establishment of an External Advisory Panel
(EAP) with members from farmers and land managers organisations,
the scientific community, NGOs and rural area district governments to guide
and inform the direction and outputs from the project.

Led by WUR (www.wur.nl/en.htm), this WP will identify the important
functions that Permanent Grasslands provide and define what needs
to be done to ensure optimal delivery of Ecosystem Services.
The first step will be to agree a European grassland typology that covers
the range of grassland types in terms of biogeographic characteristics.
This will include a definition of natural, semi-natural, semi improved
and improved grasslands based primarily on the soil properties,
climate variables and management.
Practices that drive plant species diversity in each biogeographic zone.
A key output will be the
production of field manuals in the different national languages to help
users clearly define PG types, so that farmers, advisers and policy
makers use a common approach.

Activities in WP3 will be largely based on data gathering
from a network of farms spread over the five biogeographic regions,
and the leading partner is the University of Ljubljana (www.uni-lj.si/eng).
Co-innovation farmer workshops will be held from the beginning to guide
the content of this WP.
Innovative practices for optimising ES will be developed on commercial
and experimental farms before being road tested and demonstrated
on a selection of pilot farms. The agri-environment indicators selected in
WP2 will be used to benchmark the network of farms for profitability,
sustainability and ES.

WP4 will investigate methods for securing PG performance,
under the coordination of the Newscastle University (www.ncl.ac.uk),
including formulating policy options for supporting PG management
in each region. Integrated approaches for PG management will be defined
and will vary by local social infrastructure, and according to the ES
to be prioritised in each region. A systematic review will be carried out to
assess the extrinsic and intrinsic value of ES, to determine the overall
value of what farmers can deliver for society and what support or
incentive should be provided to enable them to do so. The review will also
identify and quantify individual or societal preferences and values for
preserving or enhancing the ES associated with PG, including economic
and value-based factors that influence societal decision making.

The SUPER-G consortium will develop DSTs for farm-level and policy
support. By engagement with stakeholders, this WP led by AFBI
(www.afbini.gov.uk), will co-develop farm-level tools to help farmers
and advisers ‘measure to manage’ productivity, profitability and the
delivery of another ES. The farm-level tools will indicate how to improve
efficiency in grass growth/utilisation, reduce input costs, improve net
farm profit and build more sustainable systems by a combination of
measuring, benchmarking and modelling.

Coordinated by CONSULAI (www.consulai.com), WP6 designs and implement a detailed communication,
dissemination and data management plan. A network of contacts and organisations representing
farmers, advisers, researchers, retailers and policy makers will be established in each partner country
to co-develop clear messages and practical outputs from the project.
The groups will be used to disseminate updates and gain feedback on the development of innovative
practices, technologies and DSTs through practical face-to-face workshops, seminars,
conference, webinar series and European summer schools.

WP7 (Ethics requirements) ensures the rigorous application of ethical and data privacy standards, and compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR - Regulation (EU) 2016/679). Detailed information on the procedures for data collection, storage, protection, retention, and destruction has been collated, along with details on the procedures and criteria used to identify and recruit research participants. All the data protection, consent procedure and scientific research requirements detailed in the Ethics Summary Report (provided by the European Commission) will continue to be addressed within this WP.