Integral health farming

Society is increasingly aware of the connection between the health of the land, of animals and of humans. Visions of ‘foodscapes’ and ‘healthscapes’ are eclipsing the conventional view of landscapes focussed solely on production. Livestock production farming systems must co-evolve with this thinking. Lincoln University has designed and is implementing the Integral Health Dairy Farm (IHDF) to test and communicate these new and transformational systems views. Its objective is to innovate, to demonstrate and to manage a tangible transition from current practices to a system designed to enhance health, from the ground up. This includes measured improvements in soil, plant, animal, human and community health. In this ‘comment’, we focus on applied scientific integration of the ‘One health approach’ into agricultural systems of livestock, presenting our initial design and prototyping processes, as well as how it continues as the project moves from the drawing board to implementation, benefiting from a growing network of supporters and collaborators.

Society is increasingly aware of the connection between the health of the land, of animals and of humans, as well as of our collective responsibilities to sustain and enhance ‘the land’ for future generations. However, despite the essential role of livestock in ecology, agriculture, economies and culture, some high-income societies/consumers demand foodscapes in which livestock is either reduced or are absent. Visions of more ethical and sustainable ‘foodscapes’ and ‘healthscapes’ that do include animals, however, are eclipsing the conventional and industrial view of agricultural landscapes that focused solely on production of animal products

Gregorini, Maxwell¹. Globally, farming systems must co-evolve with this thinking, if health, as defined by the WHO (i.e., a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity), is to be pursued with a shift in our perspective from landscapes and foodscapes to healthscapes^2,3. The ‘One health’ approach has been spearheading the evolution of the thinking of modern agricultural practitioners by unifying and balancing sustainably with the health of people, animals and ecosystems⁴. However, such an approach seems to lack the practical and applied scientific integration into agricultural systems of livestock and crop production systems, where commonly most ‘changes’ are by default rather than design⁴.

Lincoln University’s Centre of Excellence Designing Future Productive Landscapes has designed and is implementing an Integral Health Farm system to test and communicate these new and transformational systems. This project emerged and was conceived and designed as a ‘strategic technological niche’⁵ for integrated system and component research that enables a sustainable innovation journey towards farm systems’ integral health. Its objective is to co-innovate, demonstrate, and support tangible transitions from the current incumbent practices to a system designed to enhance health, from the ground up. This includes measured improvements in soil, plant, animal, human and community health, creating a protected space that allow experimentation to co-evolve with technology of processes and inputs, user practices, teaching and regulatory structures.

The design of this Integral Health Farm system is the product of a complex adaptive systems design process, based on the concept of health using systems and design theories (Fig. 1). Emerging from the design process are a range of guiding principles (Table 1). The process was developed through a deliberative and systematic sequence of work stages. The first stage involved stakeholder analysis and a systematic definition of needs and requirements. This led into a data gathering phase, comprising literature review, broad stakeholder consultation and discussion workshops (Adapted from⁶). Concepts were then ideated through multidisciplinary design workshops, using a set of goal oriented emerging guiding principles. The output in this case was a prototypical pilot farm, as an attempt to create ‘a strategic technological niche’, a protected space that allow experimentation co-evolve with technology of processes and inputs, user practices, and regulatory structures, giving technologies and mental models an opportunity to mature into the multiple dimensions of health, creating ‘configurations that work’. The learning process continues as the project moves from the drawing board to implementation, benefiting from a growing network of supporters and collaborators.

Fig. 1

The Integral Health Farm system design process was developed through a deliberative and systematic sequence of work stages.

Table 1 Guiding principles of an Integral Health Farm system

The first instance of this approach is an Integral Health farm system for an irrigated dairy farm on the Canterbury Plains, South Island, New Zealand, referred to as the IHDF. The guiding principles referenced throughout the design process manifested as a specific set of system’s components and operational practices (Fig. 2). For instance, multi-purpose adaptive foraging and browsing are instantiated as adjacent swards that are functionally designed on the basis of their phytochemistry and supply of not only primary nutrition, but as important, nutraceutical and prophylactics secondary compounds. Moreover, multifunctional browsing sites also provide nutraceutical and prophylactics, as well as shade and shelter based on their strategic position and shape. Associated with the browsing sites are wood chip pads that capture key urination events (a.k.a. Mooloo), reducing nitrogen leaching from the paddock, by spreading urine and reducing nitrogen load onto the soil, as well as woody vegetation roost intercepting the slower nitrogen leaching. In terms of livestock, the principles are embodied in the choice of a resilient and multifunctional animal biotype nutraceutical milk and reduced urinary N excretion⁷, with calves (by-product of the dairy industry) designed ‘from conceptions to consumption’ including foetal nutrition for health and emotions^8,9,10, and nutraceutical meat. In addition, the dairy cows are considered as sentient beings - not machines - with the whole system aligned to provide hedonics and eudemonics wellbeing⁹, considering the 5 domains in full (Littlewood et al.¹¹). For example, by creating a ‘Mootel/birth centre’ where cows are located during harsh weather, and also to calve comfortable (Fig. 2). Digital technology is used to monitor these various elements, including Green Artificial Intelligence Technology to measure C fluxes in real time, intelligent ear tags, and virtual fencing, as well as a digital layer that integrate multiple digital components to assist management of complex systems¹².

Fig. 2: The Integral Health Dairy Farm (IHDF) features a specific set of system components and operational practices.

These include functionally diverse adjacent swards, multifunctional woody vegetation browsing sites integrated with the pre-existing pivot irrigation system, and the development of resilient and multifunctional animal biotypes. A. Multifunctional browsing site, resting on ‘the ‘Mooloo’. B, E and D. Adjacent multispecies swards. F. Wild -medicinal-aromatic flowers laneway. G. Demonstration browsing site. H. Medicinal hedge trees and shrubs. I. ‘Mootel’ and birthing centre with composting bedding.

The expected outcome of the IHDF project can be articulated as: ethical and sustainable transition pathways of agriculture of pastoral livestock production that espouse values that make positive contribution to humans, non-humans, and environments. The approach will give intensive farming a platform from which to build a positive relationship with a society demanding healthier outcomes from the livestock products they consume.