Preparing Students to Improve the Sustainability of Animal Protein Production Using Systems Thinking & Interactive, Dynamic Models

This project will help students explore systems thinking principles and the role of animals in sustainable food systems in the context of challenges such as climate change, reduced water availability and quality, rural vitality, and changing local and global markets. While ruminate livestock contribute high-quality protein to the human diet, they also contribute to negative impacts on the environment and students must be better trained to apply systems thinking principles to sustainably produce animal protein in the face of these challenges. The team will bridge passive with active learning by providing a series of web-based, interactive models that describe common sustainability problems in livestock production systems. This interactive model approach will allow students to systematically and simultaneously explore relationships between social, environmental, and economic factors, and how manipulation of one or more at a time affects outcomes.

Jasmine Dillon

Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Sciences

Picture of Kevin Jablonski

Kevin Jablonski

Extension Research Coordinator, Department of Forest & Rangeland Stewardship

Jason Ahola

Professor, Department of Animal Sciences

Shawn Archibeque

Professor, Department of Animal Sciences