Transdisciplinary approach to improve concrete outdoor runs for organic pigs: Identification of innovations

Summary

Across Europe, most organic growing-finishing pigs are kept in systems with outdoor runs. When made from barren concrete, these outdoor runs restrict species-specific behaviour and, together with poor pen hygiene, may lead to high ammonia emissions. While few scientific publications have discussed the effects of such outdoor runs on pig welfare and environment, considerable practical experience exists which could be a valuable source for improvement measures. Therefore, the CORE Organic Cofund project POWER aims for a transdisciplinary approach to identify innovative solutions to improve outdoor runs. Stakeholder workshops with farmers and experts took place in eight European countries resulting in 102 statements re-garding innovations and best-practice examples. Researchers of different disciplines evalu-ated those during a stepwise process based on practical and scientific knowledge.