Challenges, Opportunities, and Applications of Grazing Research: The Big Picture.

Grazing research is fraught with challenges, but growing societal appreciation of the importance of grazingland agroecosystems provides opportunities to address a broader array of research problems. Challenges faced by grazingland researchers include identification of critical knowledge gaps, attaining relevance within scientific and production communities, scaling results from the research plot or pasture to producers' fields or agricultural landscapes, and achieving meaningful time scales. These challenges exist within a context of severe funding limitations for production research. Concurrently, there is widespread producer appreciation of new applied technology, increasing awareness of ecosystem services provided by grazinglands, greater understanding of ruminant production’s role in climate change, and increasing emphasis on multidisciplinary and on-farm research. Thus, opportunities exist for grazingland researchers to conduct fundable and relevant research if we creatively embrace paradigm shifts that have occurred. To constructively engage end users we must bridge gaps that have limited technology adoption, including gaps between what happens on research stations and farms, between understanding fundamental biology and developing useful technology, and between production and sustainability. Application also depends upon the quality of our interaction with end users, whether they be scientists or producers. Further, we need to become more strategic in extending our research, targeting specific audiences and assuming a personal stake in technology adoption instead of product development only. Going forward, challenges abound for grazingland researchers, but emerging opportunities exist for research funding and overcoming barriers to adoption of technology.