<p>When it met in 2016, the GRA Council approved the development of four flagship programmes as a way of defining research priorities and attracting resourcing.</p>
<p>The flagships are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Enteric fermentation</li>
<li>Agricultural greenhouse gas inventories</li>
<li>Soil carbon sequestration</li>
<li>Water management in rice production</li>
</ol>
<p>The Council received presentations on each of the four flagships, and discussed the prospects for two further flagships &ndash; one on the &lsquo;circular food system&rsquo; and the other on nitrous oxide. The Netherlands will lead development of a taskforce to explore a flagship on circular food systems, and the Croplands Research Group will take the nitrous oxide flagship forward.</p>
<p>Details on the Enteric Fermentation Flagship and its four initial projects are&nbsp;available at <a href="gra,listing,445,towards-low-emissions-livestock-the-gras-enteric-fermentation-flagship.html">http://www.nzagrc.org.nz/gra,listing,445,towards-low-emissions-livestock-the-gras-enteric-fermentation-flagship.html</a></p>
<p>In terms of the other two flagships of relevance to the LRG, the Council was presented with seven high-level project concepts for the Inventory Flagship, including development of guidance on incorporating mitigation into national inventories, guidance on higher Tier inventories, and guidance on incorporating manure management emissions in inventories; database and inventory refinement for greenhouse gas emissions associated with manure and nitrogen management; and regional or country specific project ideas.</p>
<p>The Soil Carbon Sequestration Flagship will focus mostly on activities within the existing &lsquo;Coordination of International Research Cooperation on Soil Carbon Sequestration in Agriculture (CIRCASA) initiative, funded by the FACCE-JPI. CIRCASA aims to strengthen the international research community on soil carbon sequestration in relation to climate change and food security; improve our understanding of agricultural soil carbon sequestration and its potential for mitigation, adaptation and increasing food production; co-design a strategic research agenda with stakeholders on soil carbon sequestration; and create an &lsquo;International Research Consortium&rsquo; (funding model) in this area. The Flagship will also assess options for soil carbon sequestration in grazing systems and set up a &lsquo;soil microbiome for soil carbon&rsquo; network.</p>
<p>The GRA Secretariat is now working with flagship leaders to collate the project ideas and identify which ones have the leadership, support and resourcing needed to succeed. Countries and partners will be invited to review this and indicate their support for specific activities. For more information on the flagships, please contact <a href="mailto:secretariat@globalresearchalliance.org">secretariat@globalresearchalliance.org</a></p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>This article originally appeared in the Livestock Reserach Group newsletter October 2017, which can be viewed at&nbsp;<a href="https://globalresearchalliance.org/library/livestock-research-group-newsletter-october-2017/">https://globalresearchalliance.org/library/livestock-research-group-newsletter-october-2017</a>&nbsp;</em></p>