Complex Systems Science to Build Resilience in Beef Cattle and Dairy Production Systems: The Role of the Caps.

Animal agricultural has a measureable impact on global greenhouse gas emissions. It is also a production system at risk due to climate change. To develop multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary teams to address climate change impacts in specific agricultural sectors, the USDA-NIFA through their AFRI program funded projects called coordinated agricultural projects (CAPs). These CAP grants were charged with connecting measurement, modeling, social science, and life cycle assessment as well as education and extension efforts to best understand opportunities for greenhouse gas mitigation in animal agriculture, as well as develop climate change adaptation strategies for these industries. This presentation will review the structure of the Sustainable Dairy (www.sustainabledairy.org) and the Great Plains Grazing (www.greatplainsgrazing.org) projects (known colloquially as the Dairy-CAP and Grazing-CAP). The presentation will also highlight unique aspects of each grant and discuss the different approaches taken to connect agricultural scientists, engineers, modelers, and systems thinkers. Because of their long-term structure (5 years), it is our opinion that CAPs are a successful approach to addressing big issues if projects allow for flexibility in scope as objectives may change over time. The success of both grants can be attributed to frequent communication, maintaining a focus on outcomes rather than output, and strong industry support.