Certificate of Achievement
has completed the following course:
Sustainable Agrifood Systems: Land, Livestock & Climate Solutions
This online course outlined sustainable agrifood systems, covering land, soils and grasslands as living systems, and the role of livestock in ethical and efficient production. Students explored systems thinking, key impact hotspots and trade-offs, and applied climate solutions such as Life Cycle Assessment, circular economy principles and carbon removal, alongside approaches to innovation and behaviour change.
2 weeks, 4 hours per week
Meirion Roberts
Lecturer in Food Science and Biotechnology
Aberystwyth University
Transcript
Learning outcomes
- Explain key environmental, economic and social pressures affecting food and rural systems (population growth, resource constraints, climate change)
- Evaluate sustainable solutions across the land‑based, food‑processing and supply‑chain continuum
- Assess livestock health, welfare, nutrition and grazing strategies for sustainable farming
- Apply sustainability metrics to decision‑making e.g. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Syllabus
Why sustainable agrifood matters What is an agrifood system? From land to diets; Systems thinking: seeing connections, trade-offs and hotspots.
Land and grassland as living systems Land, soils and ecosystems: what “healthy” supports; Grasslands in action: productivity, biodiversity and water; Grazing management basics: decisions that make a difference; Common land-use hotspots (soil loss, nutrients, habitat pressure).
Livestock: ethical management and impact hotspots The role of livestock in sustainable food systems; Welfare and health: ethical foundations and practical indicators; Efficiency levers: feed, genetics, management and resource use; Emissions and nutrients: where the big impacts often sit.
Climate solutions toolkit—LCA, circularity and carbon removal Climate action in agrifood: mitigation, adaptation and resilience; Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): what it is and why it’s used; LCA in practice: boundaries, data and common pitfalls; Circular economy: turning waste and by-products into value; Carbon removal (GGR): basics, benefits and credibility checks.
Rural innovation and behaviour change—making change stick Rural innovation: technology, business models and collaboration; What drives (and blocks) change; Behaviour change basics: motivation, ability and prompts; Designing practical interventions: small steps, big impact.
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Issued on 13th June 2026
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