OVALI, Sustainability for Poultry®: A Method Co-Designed by Stakeholders to Assess the Sustainability of Chicken Supply Chains in Their Territories

Bertrand Méda,Cécile Berri,Pascale Magdelaine,Léonie Dusart,Philippe Lescoat,Isabelle Bouvarel,Juliette Protino

doi:10.3390/su13031329

Abstract

Sustainability is a challenging issue for livestock production, with many expectations from citizens and consumers. Thus, in order to improve existing production systems or design new ones, there is a need for sustainability assessment tools. We propose here a method based on a participatory approach to assess the sustainability of chicken supply chains. A participating group composed of various French stakeholders (poultry industry operators, research and development scientists, non-governmental organizations, etc.) was consulted to gather the various existing visions of sustainability. Each decision was validated by this group, and this resulted in the creation of a consensual assessment grid, based on economic, social, and environmental pillars, summarized in 9 goals, 28 criteria, and 45 indicators. Each item was weighted by the participating group according to their relative importance. The grid was then tested on two different French supply chains, producing either free-range or conventional standard chickens. The strengths, weaknesses, and improvement margins of each supply chain were identified. For conventional standard production, an improvement scenario was proposed, based on changes in chicken feed and the renovation of chicken houses. This new supply chain improved many criteria in the three pillars; such as economic competitiveness, European protein autonomy, social acceptance, and lower greenhouse gas emission. In conclusion, this method provides a robust and powerful tool to help stakeholders to start their own autonomous improvement process, and thus progress towards a more sustainable chicken production.

Highlights

According to the estimates of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in the decade to come, chicken will remain the most produced and consumed meat in the world, with a production increase by about 16% over the period [1]
The final assessment grid comprises the three sustainability pillars, 9 goals (G), 28 criteria (C), and 45 indicators (I) chosen, weighted, and validated by the participating group (PG) (Figure 3; indicators are given in Appendix Figure A1; details on the indicators such as methodology, conversion scales, or origin of data are provided in Supplementary File S1)
The OVALI method described in this paper was co-constructed with chicken supply chain stakeholders and public representatives in a participatory approach

Summary

Introduction

According to the estimates of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in the decade to come, chicken will remain the most produced and consumed meat in the world, with a production increase by about 16% over the period [1]. In such a context, the following question has arisen: “how can the sustainability of chicken production be improved?” First put forward in 1987 in the “Brundtland report” [9], the complex notion of “sustainability” can be interpreted as a trajectory guiding constructive changes. There is, a need for methods and tools to assess the sustainability of production systems and to identify their strengths and weaknesses, in order to propose sustainability goals and solutions to reach them

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion