Developing a new digital vision for rangeland grazing systems

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides a framework for digital twinning in rangeland systems, useful for climate adaptation and biodiversity research.

🏢実務担当者:Demonstrates IoT applications for livestock monitoring and environmental management, aiding net-zero and efficiency goals.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights the role of digital hubs in achieving agricultural net-zero targets and supporting rural development.

Identifying appropriate digital technologies is crucial to help address rangeland agricultural challenges A rangeland farm hub can help highlight how best to integrate environmental management into rangeland livestock systems A rangeland farm hub allows the development of approaches and metrics to quantify the benefits of implementing agricultural and environmental solutions A digital vision may increase the socio-ecological viability of rangeland livestock systems and support their resilience to ongoing climate change Globally, rangeland grazing systems account for the majority of grazing lands (Reid et al., 2008) and more than half of the total land, with over 200 million people raising livestock in pastoral and agro-pastoral grazing systems. In Europe, a large proportion (59%) of these lands are classed as less favored areas (LFA—Article 2 of EU Council Directive No. 75/268/EEC) or areas of natural constraints [Article 32 of Regulation (EU) No. 1305/2013]. Although the primary function of many of these areas is to produce food and fiber, they are also rich in natural and semi-natural vegetation and support species and habitats, often with high conservation value, whose persistence is totally or partially dependent on the maintenance of specific low-intensity farming systems (Lomba et al., 2023). Moreover, across Europe, many rangeland areas are currently under pressure from biophysical and socio-economic factors, alongside broader political and cultural changes (Nori and Scoones, 2023). These areas are also coming under pressure regarding efficiency and adaptation to climate change (Muñoz-Ulecia et al., 2024). In Europe, the EU Commission aims to be climate-neutral by 2050—an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. This objective is at the heart of the European Green Deal (European Commission, 2019) and is a legally binding target thanks to the European Climate Law (European Commission, 2025). In Scotland, the Scottish Government commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2045 (Scottish Government, 2024) will have a major impact on future agricultural and environmental support policies. There will be an even greater emphasis on encouraging farmers in extensive and rangeland grazing areas to improve the cost-effectiveness of their production systems and improve soil carbon sequestration [e.g. through grassland and grazing management practices, increasing plant species diversity in swards, restoring peatlands, etc. (Strack et al., 2022; Norderhaug et al., 2023)]. Scotland has also been in a biodiversity crisis (Scottish Executive, 2004) for just as long, if not longer, than we have been in a climate emergency (Cunningham, 2019). Although actions taken to address climate challenges may also have biodiversity benefits, there will be a continuing need for more targeted actions to assist other wildlife, such as upland birds that are in marked decline (Alba et al., 2022). It is, therefore, important to develop new approaches that can address both farming and biodiversity issues in these rangeland areas. A report from the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity & Sustainability (EIP-AGRI, 2016) concluded that the use of innovative technologies and management techniques had an important role to play, with facilitating technological innovation being an essential part of a wider array of measures required to improve the future viability of rangeland grazing systems. However, uptake of innovative technologies can be challenging in these types of systems, despite the potential benefits that their use could bring regarding farm efficiency and labor savings (Morgan-Davies et al., 2018). Developing a new digital vision for rangeland grazing systems could help address these challenges, and demonstrate the advantages of technology for farming, net-zero commitments and biodiversity benefits. This paper showcases the use of a Rangeland Digital Hub in Scotland to develop a digital vision for rangeland grazing systems, by investigating both short-term innovation and medium to long term diversification, including land use change, focusing both on technological solutions as well as the financial, societal, and policy changes required to drive these changes. Scotland Rural College (SRUC) Kirkton & Auchtertyre mountain research farm is quite distinctive as a rangeland farm hub, i.e., a site designed to connect agricultural and environmental science with practical, real-world application and which acts as a focal point for testing, validating, and demonstrating new technologies, sustainable practices and innovative systems of direct relevance to rangelands and rangeland managers. The farm is unique due to its size (c. 2,200 ha), altitudinal range (from 170 m to over 1,000 m), and wide range of grassland, heathland, woodland, and montane habitats characteristic of mountain (hill) farming (Figure 1). It is also uniquely relevant for Scottish agriculture—of the 6.2 million hectares used for agriculture in Scotland, around 4 million hectares is rough grazing, not able to be improved by mechanical means. Hence, the outputs and knowledge created by the Kirkton & Auchtertyre hub are applicable to over 65% of the total area farmed in Scotland, and beyond. Map of SRUC Kirkton & Auchtertyre farm. The farm has been used as an agricultural research hub for over 50 years and as an environmental research hub for over 25 years; and is in the process of further developing its potential as an agro-forestry research hub. An overview of the wide range of national and international research currently being conducted on or associated with the farms can be viewed here (https://muckrack.com/davy-mccracken-1/portfolio), drawn from press articles and Farm Advisory Service material aimed at upland land managers. SRUC Kirkton & Auchtertyre farm has been part of the Global Farm Platform Initiative (GFP) since 2018. Established in 2014 and honored this year by the FAO Technical Recognition for Sustainable Livestock Transformation (FAO, 2025), the Global Farm Platform Initiative is a collaborative network of 19 research farms and 28 institutions across six continents, dedicated to optimizing livestock production whilst minimizing environmental impact. Through its hub-and-spoke model, where research farms (hubs) serve as regional centers for experimentation and demonstration, while commercial farms and smallholders (spokes) adopt and disseminate locally relevant, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable practices, the GFP integrates cutting-edge science with real-world farming, fostering sustainable livestock transformation, One Health, and global food security (www.globalfarmplatform.org). As a major partner in this network, SRUC has sought to establish the Kirkton & Auchtertyre research farm as an innovative world class resource for addressing 21st century rangeland land use challenges and opportunities. Our approach (Figure 2) is based around the establishment of a unique Rangeland Digital Hub and a program of associated research and demonstration activities. Themes within this program include: Schematic representation of the Rangeland Digital Hub with examples of associated research activities. Moving toward a Digital Twinning concept (Purcell and Neubauer, 2023) with real time data capture including Internet of Things (IoT) technologies; Rangeland livestock systems fit for the 21st century; Optimizing the integration of environmental management into rangeland farms; Increasing the socio-ecological viability of rangeland farming; Development of natural capital assessment metrics; Knowledge exchange for impact. Over the past nine years, the first remote, upland IoT (Internet of Things) low-power wide area network (LPWAN) in the UK has been established on the Kirkton & Auchtertyre farm (McCracken, 2017). It is used to collect near-real-time data from sensors on livestock (assessing, e.g. location, health, and welfare variables) and in the wider environment (measuring, e.g. soil temperature, moisture content, river levels, meteorological data; Figures 2 and 3). The intent is to further develop the use of sensors and associated technologies within the Rangeland Digital Hub to assess and demonstrate the benefits to be gained from not only having access to such otherwise difficult to collect data streams but also from being able to combine and interpret the information coming from the different data streams. This role of interpretation is becoming increasingly important as the quantity of data available to farmers and land managers continue to increase, the availability of this data in conjunction with the facilities allows our knowledge exchange advisors to disseminate the results of these studies widely and with impact on business across Scotland and the rest of Europe. This will help rangeland land managers in achieving Net-Zero greenhouse gas emissions with greater emphasis on applying nutrients more effectively to lowland grasslands, tracking and monitoring livestock location and health, and restoring degraded peatlands where feasible (McCracken, 2021). Access to real-time data to aid management decision-making will also be helpful in managing Scotland’s rangeland areas in ways that mitigate or prevent flooding further downstream in water catchments. Given that much of Scotland is remote and challenging topographically, the use of sensors together with improved connectivity and processing power to collect, transmit and process such data is essential. The lessons learnt from this Hub will also be applicable to much of the other rangeland areas in the world (Sm@RT & DIGIRangeland projects), and similar work carried out on other UK farm platforms (e.g. the North Wyke Farm Platform) (Orr et al., 2016) will also contribute to increase the awareness and knowledge regarding those issues. Map of the environmental sensors’ locations at SRUC Kirkton & Auchtertyre. Using the available data, the idea is to move t

• openalex https://doi.org/10.1093/af/vfag009first seen 2026-08-02 17:14:13