Designing breakthrough cattle breeding programs to support the sector's evolution over the next 20 years

• Title: "Designing breakthrough cattle breeding programs to support the sector's evolution over the next 20 years"; INRAE.
• Postdoctoral researcher: Henri Lagarde.
• Affiliated unit: INRAE, UMR 1313 - GABI - G2B.
• Project duration: 2024–2026.

Project summary:

The french beef and dairy cattle sectors will face many challenges over the next 20 years. These include, but are not limited to, the decline in beef consumption, the volatility of input costs, rising temperatures, the sensitivity of forage crops to water deficits, possible future regulations targeting methane production by cattle, the emergence of pathogens, and the decline in the number of farmers. Genetic improvement through selection is one of the levers for adapting to these changes. This post-doctorate is organized in two phases. The first phase will involve coordinating an interdisciplinary expert group on the cattle sector to determine the scenarios for the evolution of cattle farming in France over the next 20 years and the associated adapted cattle genetics. Links will also be established with comparable initiatives at the scientific or professional levels. In the second phase, the objective will be to determine, through simulation, the optimal breeding schemes for producing this cattle genetics. The work conducted in this post-doctorate will result in a prospective report on the evolution of french cattle farming over the next 20 years, partially contribute to the GA and PHASE bi-departmental working group on "experimentation to co-design and evaluate sustainable cattle farming systems," and be published in scientific articles.