Post-doctoral Research Fellow
Department of Economics
Critical Research on Industrial Livestock Systems (CRILS) Network
Project Information
Principal Investigator
- Dr Mehroosh Tak, SOAS Department of Economics
Team member
- Dr Arnold Fang, SOAS Department of Economics
Funder
- Tiny Beam Fund – Kindling Initiative
Duration
- 2025-2028
Overview
The CRILS Network aims to understand the trade-offs of large-scale, industrial livestock systems and to use available evidence to advocate for just and sustainable food systems, especially in the Global South.
It brings together researchers and non-academics including civil society, activists, policy-makers, industry actors, and lawyers among others, to challenge and nuance narratives of livestock production systems.
An industrial livestock system is characterised by low genetic diversity and, in some cases, high stocking density, vertical integration, and/or corporate consolidation. However, industrial farming has also boosted the availability of affordable and in-demand animal-sourced foods and advanced food security. Intensive systems are proposed as a solution to address animal-sourced food demand in a land-sparing manner, among some communities. But at what cost and for whom?
How livestock systems are governed and controlled matters because it shapes the food system. The externalities of industrialised livestock production systems may heighten vulnerability to pandemic threats, food insecurity and climate change. The burden of which can be higher in the Global South. Poorly considered industrialised systems can contribute to land dispossession, biodiversity loss, degraded animal welfare, poor working conditions, and the erosion of traditional and indigenous knowledge among other effects.
The CRILS Network provides a platform to facilitate nuanced conversations on the impacts of industrial livestock production on our food systems.
Header Image Credit: Jakob Cotton via Unsplash.
