INRAE is Europe’s top agricultural research institute, ranked 5th worldwide in animal and plant sciences. INRAE carries out mission-oriented research for better food and nutrition, preservation of the environment and sustainable agricultural practices. INRAE lends its expertise to public decision-making and to shaping national/international research strategies. Within INRAE, the Modélisation systémique appliquée aux ruminants (MoSAR) unit has high expertise in systemic modelling of the relationships between ruminant livestock and their feeding environment. It develops tools that increase the understanding of trade-offs between life functions and the efficiency of use of food resources whilst optimising performance, adaptive capacity and wellbeing. MoSAR’s projects integrate different levels of aggregation (herd, farming systems…), developing both computer and conceptual models at these levels.
