The Critical Research on Industrial Livestock Systems (CRILS) Network aims to understand the trade-offs of large-scale, industrial livestock systems and to use available evidence to advocate for just and sustainable food systems, especially in the Global South. The network brings together researchers and non-academics including civil society, activists, policy-makers, industry actors, and lawyers among others, to challenge and nuance narratives of livestock production systems.

Challenge       

How livestock systems are governed and controlled matters because it shapes the food system. An industrial livestock system is characterised by low genetic diversity and, in some cases, high stocking density, vertical integration, and/or corporate consolidation. However, industrial farming has also boosted the availability of affordable and in-demand animal-sourced foods and advanced food security. Intensive systems are proposed as a solution to address animal-sourced food demand in a land-sparing manner, among some communities. But at what cost and for whom?

The externalities of industrialised livestock production systems may heighten vulnerability to pandemic threats, food insecurity and climate change. The burden of which can be higher in the Global South. Poorly considered industrialised systems can contribute to land dispossession, biodiversity loss, degraded animal welfare, poor working conditions, and the erosion of traditional and indigenous knowledge among other effects.

Solution      

The CRILS Network is funded by the Tiny Beam Fund's Kindling Initiative to provide a platform to facilitate nuanced conversations on the impacts of industrial livestock production on our food systems.

We host regular online and in person workshops to connect researchers from different disciplines and regions; to connect academics and frontline workers to share methods and resources; and to strengthen the pathways from evidence to action. In the coming years, we will support Working Groups to advance research on specific thematic areas developed during CRILS Phase 1.

Find out more about the CRILS Network at https://www.crils.org/
Contact us at crilsnetwork@rvc.ac.uk or Dr Mehroosh Tak at mtak@rvc.ac.uk