About the consortium.

Rationale.

Dairy systems in developed regions have grown increasingly intensive, while many low- and middle-income countries continue to operate low-resource, data-sparse systems. Dairy2All responds to fragmented knowledge, limited contextual adaptation, and weak access to coordinated support for dairy farming under sub-optimal conditions.

Around 150 million smallholder households worldwide are involved in milk production. Improved dairy systems contribute to better nutrition, rural livelihoods, and more resilient production models based on locally adapted, circular, and diverse strategies.

Six specific objectives.

Dairy2All defines six linked specific objectives: (1) establish the Database for Decision-Support and Analysis (DDSA); (2) develop the Dairy Platform for Action (DPA); (3) enable multi-actor collaboration and networking through the DPA; (4) deliver diverse strategies for feeding, breeding, management, and production; (5) develop diverse strategies for health and heat-stress mitigation; and (6) diversify revenue sources and boost circularity in dairy systems.

Pilot locations.

Ethiopia represents an existing but low-productivity dairy system, with 70.3 million cattle, about 10-12 million milked cows, dominant low-input and low-output systems, and persistent constraints in feed, genetics, animal health, milk collection, and processing. The Ethiopia pilot is led by Bahir Dar University (BDU).

Liberia represents limited or emerging dairy activity. The sector relies heavily on imports, with only 0.01% of agricultural families using milking machines or milk coolers; the government's Six-Year Growth Plan (2024-2030) aims to reduce import dependency and boost local production. The Liberia pilot is led by the Ministry of Agriculture Liberia (MOAL).

Together, the pilots provide complementary conditions for validating platform usability, advisory accuracy, and the feasibility of context-specific dairy strategies.

Methodology.

The methodological cycle is data acquisition and curation; semantic harmonisation and knowledge modelling; generation of context-specific recommendations through the DPA; pilot deployment; and systematic feedback and refinement.

At the core are DDSA, DTE, and DPA. Methods include retrieval-augmented AI, rule-based systems, analytical models, expert review, confidence scoring, provenance tracking, and explicit safeguards for high-risk domains.

Programme and governance.

Dairy2All is a proposed Research and Innovation Action (RIA) submitted to Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-CL6-2026-02-FARM2FORK-05 (Area A) on 14 April 2026, currently under evaluation. No grant has yet been awarded. Agricultural Research Organization - Volcani Institute is the proposed coordinator and Yehoshav Ben Meir, Ph.D. is the contact.

The project follows a Data Management Plan aligned with FAIR principles, GDPR compliance, and open-science practices.