Livestock Feed Baskets Solutions Group

Photo: Georgina Smith (CIAT)

Themes

Contributors

Addressing data challenges in livestock feed baskets to improve GHG emissions estimations and support productivity gains through enhanced ruminant nutrition in low- and middle-income countries.

Why livestock feed basket data?

Understanding what animals eat—both in terms of quantity and nutritional quality—is fundamental to calculating accurate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), a lack of reliable feed basket data creates significant barriers to effectively estimating emissions, limiting opportunities for the livestock sector to access climate finance and implement effective mitigation strategies while improving food security.

Feed basket data describes both what animals are eating (quantity in kg DM/day) and the nutritional characteristics of feed (energy digestibility, nitrogen content). This information is crucial for various stakeholders, from livestock producers making feeding decisions to national governments developing livestock sector policies. However, the current data landscape faces critical challenges around integration, access, and consistency that prevent effective use of available information.

The Solutions Group

To address these data challenges, Livestock Data for Decisions (LD4D) has convened a multi-disciplinary Solutions Group in partnership with the World Bank and Cornell University. The goal is to develop comprehensive feed basket data collection guidelines that will improve GHG emission estimations and support better decision-making across the livestock sector.

The group will:

Engage with and understand existing global datasets (e.g., GLEAM and GLOBIOM/IMPACT) to identify data gaps and opportunities for improved integration
Co-develop standardized feed basket data collection guidelines that promote wider use of existing survey tools
Create frameworks to support varying levels of feed basket data quality for GHG calculations

Specifically, the group is working to deliver

Resource pack and guidance: Entry point for using the FeedBasket Data Resources; Guide to best practices for data collection
Registry of feed basket data sources: to help make data available and findable
Data sharing framework and supporting governance structures, grounded in FAIR data principles to improve data quality, transparency, and usability.
A shared Schema to make Feed Baskets data interoperable and harmonize the Collection, search and processing of Feed BasketData

Building on Previous Work

This Solutions Group builds on scoping work undertaken in 2024 with LD4D members and Cornell University's Food Systems and Global Change programme. Through a landscaping analysis and consultation process conducted in May 2024, key stakeholders were mapped as the first step towards understanding data needs and gaps.

A group of adults standing outside on grass with large trees in the background. — Solutions group members participate in a workshop in Edinburgh, January 2026.

Solutions Group members

In 2025, the solutions group consulted with a wide array of LD4D members, who provided valuable input to shape the group's focus. These diverse experts were drawn from across the feed basket data landscape.

In January 2026, LD4D convened a workshop inviting a smaller subset of members to work on specific outputs, which will be finalised mid-2026.

**Workshop group members**
Franco Bilotto	Cornell University
Andrew Bisson	Spark Climate Solutions
Rebecca Chamberlin	Independent
Jennifer Daub	The University of Edinburgh
Ram Dhulipala	FAO
Alan Duncan	University of Edinburgh
Mohammad Farrae	AIM for Scale
Fabio Fidanza	Fabio Fidanza Studio
Mario Herrero	Cornell University
Sophie Jenkinson	SEBI Livestock, University of Edinburgh
Maureen Kamusiime	Mercy Corps
Annie Kilroy	Development Gateway: An IREX Venture
Michael Macleod	Scotland's Rural College
Ana Miranda	SEBI Livestock, University of Edinburgh
Merel Moleman	The World Bank and Wageningen University & Research
Lolita Muller	Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
Asaah Ndambi	Wageningen University & Research
An Notenbaert	Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
Gareth Salmon	SEBI Livestock, University of Edinburgh
Peter Steward	Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
Giuseppe Tempio	The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Shimels Wassie	University of California, Davis
Dominik Wisser	The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

What are LD4D Solutions Groups?

Solutions Groups are a collaboration platform bringing together decision makers and experts from the LD4D network. Solutions Groups work on a specific data challenge and together produce a tailored data tool or knowledge product that can support decision making. These groups are designed to deliver measurable outputs within 6-12 months.

We have created Solutions Groups to address the gaps between data producers and decision makers. Available livestock data does not always address decision making needs. Our motivation is to promote ongoing dialogue and collaboration between LD4D members and decision makers. We want to harness the wide range of expertise we have in the network to try to bridge the gap between data and decisions.

The first LD4D Solutions Group was launched in 2024, focused on Livestock and Climate Finance. In developing this new model for collaboration focused on decision maker needs, we will measure its impacts and generate learning to inform similar work in other contexts and scale up.