GFLI’s Scientific Advisory Council recently came together to discuss key topics currently relevant for the Institute. One of those topics is the acceptance of higher tier data for integration into the GFLI database.
Council members highlighted the need for more granular and more regionalized data in order to account for different production systems, and thereby better support: the implementation of effective mitigation strategies; making fairer comparisons across regions; and meeting/reporting on sustainability targets. Members also discussed how GFLI could accommodate the variety in higher tier approaches and the inevitable modelling differences, as well as the need to address uncertainties in (modelled) data (i.e. we should not ignore the inherent differences between simulated (modeled) data and observational data). Members also provided their thoughts on how to clarify the standard baseline for reporting (i.e. some methodological variations are acceptable, but a shared core is essential for comparability in international markets), and considered perhaps using a different metric for comparability between countries when higher tier applies (e.g. percentual comparisons between average farms). The need for clear guidance for end users, especially feed suppliers, was also raised.
Actions and conclusions:
- The National Inventory Reports can be used as national metrics for more granular modelling/data.
- Inform database users about how to interpret higher tier modelled data and when it can be appropriate to use it (as well as clarifying when it is appropriate to use Tier 1 data).
The GFLI methodology will be updated before the end of this year to include a chapter on higher tier models accepted by GFLI.