SUSTAINABILITY FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE August 2025 103 About Jess Callaghan With a background working on energy efficiency and fuel poverty projects, Jess Callaghan joined the Centre for Research into Environmental and Sustainable Transitions (CREST) in June 2024. She is an experienced project manager and data insights specialist and is passionate about presenting data in a way that is accessible and comprehendible to a range of audiences, and using data for informed decision making. Callaghan has recently trained in completing LCAs and will be using these to assess the environmental impact of rural and agricultural practices. She is currently working on a UKRI funded project with a consortium of partners. FeedFlow: Innovative Methods for Improving Poultry Feeding, Welfare and Health, through AI and BSFL (EIA and LCA applications to whole LC Inventories) UoC's role in the project is to assess the environmetnal impact of the feeding strategies using LCA. new and innovative feed options to reduce the large environmental impacts soy and it’s supply chain have on the product of packaged poultry.” The two universities are joining forces, along with commercial partners, including project lead Flybox®, on a project funded by Innovate UK as part of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’ (Defra) Farming Innovation Programme. Professor Powell-Turner continued, “The Feedflow project aims to use Black Soldier Fly larvae to convert waste into high-protein broiler feed. Working with our expert nutritionist partners at NTU will allow us to consider nutritional value of the feed alongside the environmental impact.” By starting their collaboration early in the project, the researchers are maximizing the collection of in vivo data. This will include direct emissions measurements—often overlooked or modelled in LCAs—as well as an analysis of waste products. Most of the data will be gathered from the Flybox Research and Development pod and NTU’s poultry facility, a controlled experimental environment. Through this collaborative effort, the team aims to develop an LCA model that can be adapted to suit the needs of the poultry industry, decision-makers and consumers. Nick Davies from 2SFG added, “It’s essential that we are focused on collaborative approaches to research and partnerships that can deliver quantitative, science, data-based solutions. This will help support and deliver solutions on current and future challenges is essential for us to provide affordable, sustainable solutions through brilliant basics. Combining the basics, innovation, academia, and the new novel approaches will demonstrate our industry’s willingness to embraces change, adopt new practices where needed to deliver sustainable products and do our bit for the planet in a measured way.” References 1United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, P. D. World Population Prospects 2024: Summary of Results (2024) 2Gołasa, P. et al. Sources of greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, with particular emphasis on emissions from energy used. Energies (Basel) 14, (2021) 3Finkbeiner, M. et al. Challenges in Life Cycle Assessment: An Overview of Current Gaps and Research Needs. in 207–258 (2014). doi:10.1007/978-94017-8697-3_7 4Alkhtib, A., Wilson, P., Bedford, M. R., O’Neill, H. ‘Nell’ M. & Burton, E. Can the broiler industry rely on results of existing life cycle assessment and environmental assessments studies to inform broilers’ nutritional strategies? Poultry Science vol. 102 Preprint at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2023.102667 (2023) 5Alkhtib, A., Burton, E., Wilson, P. B., Scholey, D. & Bentley, J. Effect of life cycle inventory choices and nutritional variation on carbon footprint of broiler meat production. J Clean Prod 383, (2023) 6Ott, D. et al. LCA as decision support tool in the food and feed sector: evidence from R&D case studies. Environ Syst Decis 43, 129–141 (2023)
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