Working Groups

Since 2002 different groups of scientists from different European countries have requested the EGF to act as a working group under the umbrella of the EGF. This initiative was supported by the Executive Committee.

To date, six working groups (see below) have been active, one of which has completed its work and three of which currently have suspended their activities.

Two working groups are still active and are attracting considerable interest. 

• Grazing (established 2008)
• Sensing in grassland and forage science and practice (established 2017)
• Semi-natural grasslands (established 2011; currently inactive)
• Grassland systems (established 2004; currently inactive)
• Grassland re-sowing and grass-arable rotations (established 2002; currently inactive)
• Analytical methods for measuring fatty acids in forage (existed from 2006 to 2010)

The working groups report on their activities and results at each EGF General Assembly and here on the EGF Website..

The following workshops of EGF Working Groups will be attached to the next EGF conference and are announced on the conference website:

Working Group “Grazing”
Overall theme: Resilience in grazing systems
Exploring the risks and mitigation strategies for grazing-based livestock systems, as well as the positive contributions of grazing to resilience under three sub-themes:

• Role of livestock
• Innovations
• Lessons from history

Working Group “Sensing”
How can we benefit from grassland sensing?
How can grassland research benefit from grassland sensing?
How can grassland farmers benefit from grassland sensing?

• Learn about proximal and remote sensing activities within the EGF community
• Foster networking and collaboration between individuals
• Identify the potential of sensing to improve grazing management for farmers
• Publish workshop notes as a paper at the next EGF conference

Sensing in grassland and forage science and practice
The EGF Working Group “Sensing in grassland and forage science and practice” held its constituting assembly and first workshop on 7 May 2017 at the Congress Venue of the Department of Architecture, Muralla de l’Hospital (Bastioni Pigafetta) in Alghero, Sardinia (Italy).

More information and the proceedings and presentations of this workshop are available here.

Grazing in a high-tech world
The workshop was a combination of a limited number of short presentations, followed by group discussions on relevant topics.

Organising Committee:

• Agnes van den Pol-van Dasselaar, chair (Wageningen UR Livestock Research / CAH Vilentum University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands)
• Alex de Vliegher (ILVO, Belgium)
• Deirdre Hennessy (Teagasc, Ireland)
• Johannes Isselstein (University of Göttingen, Germany)
• Jean-Louis Peyraud (INRA, France)

The proceedings and presentations of this workshop are available here for download.

Grazing and automation
The EGF Working Group "Grazing" held its 4^th Meeting. The theme of the meeting was "Grazing and automation". A report with proceedings and presentations are available here.