Five Insights Into the Ongoing Evolution of Cattle Agricultural Research
Our Imperatives series highlights essential issues that researchers and scientists around the world are exploring related to global health, water, energy, food and education. With it, we seek to share knowledge between design professionals and the experts who work in the facilities we design.
As part of our Imperatives series’ exploration of agricultural research, experts from our education and science architecture practice traveled to Oregon State University to speak with several professors about their areas of study. Travis Mulliniks is the University’s newly appointed Glenn & Mildred Harvey Professor of Beef Cattle Management and the organization’s top authority on beef cattle research. In an insightful conversation with Mulliniks, we spoke about the environment, artificial intelligence, the new generation of agriculture student and more. Below are some of the key trends and developments that stood out from our time at Oregon State.
1. Technology, AI Find a Home on the Range
Beef cattle agriculture is seeing a rise in technology investment which is changing how modern producers operate. The proliferation of high-quality cellular connectivity has made technologies such as virtual fencing viable, helping producers more easily manage their stock and adapt to climate conditions. Other wearable technologies can deliver insights on cattle health, location, and nutrition. Industries across every sector are experimenting with how to best leverage AI, and agriculture is no different. Mulliniks and colleagues recently published a paper on how it can be used to measure cattle weight, health and breeding viability through cameras. This would greatly reduce the resources required to gather this data and would allow smaller producers to better track their livestock.
“I think that's where AI is going — it provides opportunity to manage cows in areas that we can't get eyes on,” he said.
Mulliniks stressed that the most important factors in the success of an agricultural technology are accessibility and synergy with other technologies. “If it's not simple, producers won't use it,” he said. “It has to be simple, but they have to be able to work together. There is a major advantage to a lot of these technologies working in the same platform.”
Key Takeaway
The advancement of technology is transforming every industry, including agriculture. Awareness of the latest advancements allows designers to create spaces in synergy with these technologies and with the flexibility to accommodate continued progression.
2. Cattle & Carbon: A Complex Issue
Cattle are a central figure in environmental conversations. Livestock production accounts for 4% of all greenhouse gases produced in the United States and 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, a large part of which is methane produced by their digestion. However, natural grassland prairie (as grazing pastures) plays a key role in sequestering carbon beneath the soil. As a regenerative livestock feed source, the prairie boosts the carbon recycling process. Mulliniks said researchers need to focus on not only the impact on the environment impact of beef production but also and sustainability of farming communities.
“If we take beef out of that equation, what happens to those states and the viability of those states? It's a larger conversation than just cows themselves and methane,” Mulliniks said.
Sustainability is here to stay as part of agriculture moving forward. Mulliniks said universities, investors, consumers, and students alike are all conscious, more than ever before, of how to reduce the industry’s environmental impact.
Key Takeaway
The carbon banking we strive for in our building design is akin to the inherent sustainability relationship with cattle, carbon sequestration and land use planning. Recognition of this symbiosis is both our greatest challenge and our greatest endeavor. Carbon sequestration, cost consciousness for the agrarian producers and an understanding of the evolution of field data for the education and research can enable a better environment and promote food equity.
3. Stretching University Outreach
As a land grant institution, Oregon State’s Extension Service is one of the core elements of their mission; and as a publicly available resource, it’s a great opportunity to provide producers with free, unbiased information and support from experts — especially as misinformation runs rampant online, per Mulliniks. However, Extension has become challenged in recent years as both university personnel and producers alike have less and less time to commit to in-person information sessions.
“Fifty years ago, Extension would come into a community to give a presentation and you would have a big turnout of producers,” Mulliniks said. “What Extension really needs to figure out is how can we adapt to the needs of our producers today and not try to use models from previous years.”
Some outreach has shifted to a podcast format in an effort to be more accessible to producers. While this makes the information more widely available, it also reduces opportunities for face-to-face interaction, which can decrease the development of relationships. In his new role, Mulliniks wants to prioritize connecting with producers around the state. He regularly makes trips to various ranches and ensures that the university addresses needs statewide.
Key Takeaway
Like the architectural design process, there is an important emphasis on collaboration within agriculture, and Extension offices help bridge a gap between research, livestock producers and the wider industry. Amid a global food crisis and funding challenges, collaborative problem solving on a microscale with awareness of the impacts on a macroscale is essential to designing for a future within our evolving ecosystem. The agrarian and urban connection of our societies is a relationship that reminds us of our evolution as a species and binds us to one another in our commitment toward improvement and sustainable living.
4. Collaborating Across State Lines
With limited resources, Mulliniks said agricultural colleges need to become creative in their collaborations across state lines. He added that Oregon State needs to be more proactive in working with peer institutions across the Pacific Northwest to share expertise with one another and allow faculty to devote more time to research. There are some obvious logistic obstacles, including revenue sharing, he said, but they’re obstacles worth tackling.
“It's extremely complex, but it's something that we really need to focus on. If we have a lack of expertise in X, Y and Z or if I'm so busy teaching that I don't have time to do my research or my Extension appointments, how do we fill those voids and collaborate across these lines to help not only our mission as a university, but the missions of others as well?” he said.
Collaboration can also include student exchange opportunities, which allow students a chance to experience different agricultural environments and step away from their familiar setting. This extends beyond the U.S., with many students coming from abroad to earn advanced degrees and taking the knowledge they acquire back to their native countries.
Key Takeaway
Collaboration is at the core of our identity as a firm and is crucial in the advancement of science and education as well as architecture and engineering. As many universities struggle to do more with less, from a facilities, faculty, support services and funding perspective, we work with universities to help build partnerships, assess their assets and create new opportunities for collaboration.
5. Bringing Generation Z to the Table
Mulliniks has experienced distinct differences between the agriculture students he teaches and those from his generation. Many of today’s students didn’t grow up on a farm, he said, but still have a personal connection to the industry through grandparents who did. While they may not have as much hands-on experience, they bring a new perspective which helps drive the field forward and challenge traditional thinking, which is common in the industry.
“They think differently and the questions that they ask sometimes develop into something that we never thought about, Mulliniks said. “They can help push to make us more efficient. These students really are tied into the environment and sustainability. They want to be at the table in that conversation and help guide the future of what it looks like.”
Key Takeaway
The students’ focus on a regenerative future requires us to think broadly about each of our roles in the global community, and our ability to provide leadership within the building industry. Student interns and young professional are at our studio tables, integral to bringing new thinking in regenerative design strategies to our built environment.
