Speaker bio page for Jude Capper

Bio

Jude L. Capper, Ph.D. is an independent Livestock Sustainability Consultant based in Oxfordshire, UK, who undertook her BSc (Agriculture with Animal Science) and PhD (Ruminant Nutrition and Behaviour) at Harper Adams University College (UK), followed by post-doctoral research at Cornell University (USA) and a faculty position at Washington State University (USA).

Jude’s research focuses on modeling the environmental impact of livestock production systems, specifically dairy and beef. Her initial work in this area concentrated on quantifying the improvements in environmental impacts made by improving dairy productivity, including comparing the historical resource use and GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from the 1944 and 2007 U.S. dairy industries. Further research has concentrated on improvements in sustainability gained through key on-farm productivity metrics (including, but not limited to milk yield, milk composition, output per unit of bodyweight); and the impacts of technologies that improve productive efficiency.

Jude’s professional goal is to communicate the importance of factors affecting livestock industry sustainability to enhance the knowledge and understanding of food production stakeholders from the rancher and farmer through to the retailer, policy-maker and consumer. She has an active social media presence and spends a considerable amount of time de-bunking some of the more commonly-heard myths relating to resource use and the environmental impact of livestock production.

To date, Jude has presented results of her research and associated sustainability issues in 312 presentations within 15 countries. She has published peer-reviewed articles relating to these issues in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Dairy Science, Journal of Animal Science, South African Journal of Animal Science and Animals.