By Krisy Gashler
A new free modeling tool is enabling researchers, farmers and food processors to assess how changes in the ways a dairy farm is managed would influence its environmental impact, energy use and economics. The Ruminant Farm Systems (RuFaS) modeling tool, developed by Cornell researchers and collaborators across academia, industry, government and nonprofits, is available at no cost for open-source collaboration.
Cornell researchers created the scaffolding for the model and worked with collaborators to integrate Cornell and other dairy farm research on factors like animal feed, crop growth and milk production. The model predicts outcomes such as production costs, resource use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Cornell’s Department of Animal Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) has led development of the model, with support from the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.
The model synthesizes a vast array of factors and can accommodate additions of new research from multiple collaborators, said Daryl Nydam, professor of dairy health and production in CVM.
Source : cornell.edu