Sustainability and heightened demand in livestock production requires the most up-to-date toolkit. International & Executive Programs (IEP) in the College of Natural Resources (CNR) welcomed livestock specialists and policy makers from the Department of Agriculture of the Philippines for a customized, five-day, intensive course on climate change and livestock on May 26 to May 30, 2015.

The program engaged distinguished experts, including Dr. Michael Wehner, Senior Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to share the climate change challenges policymakers face, with a special emphasis on its impact on livestock in Asia.

They got a firsthand glimpse of the environmental impacts facing the livestock industry, supplemented by lectures from agricultural experts at UC Davis. With pioneers in sustainable intensification such as Dr. Frank Mitloehner, who presented his findings contesting claims of heightened cattle emission production, and Dr. Maurice Pitesky, whose work with GIS was integral to his research on the spread of avian influenza via wild avi fauna, the delegates were exposed to a wide range of sustainable growth strategies in the livestock industry.

Participants also had the chance to visit food producers and processors throughout California, including Fresno, Contra Costa and the San Juan Bautista Cattle Ranch.