A competitive animal agriculture that performs for the climate and animal welfare in a diversified protein future

Attracting investment into future-proof animal farming systems requires a predictable policy environment grounded in a long-term vision for the sector’s contribution to societal goals.

In response to the European Commission’s consultation on its upcoming livestock strategy and protein action plan, we put forward four interrelated policy approaches to develop competitive and climate-efficient livestock systems with high animal welfare standards.

• Updating EU animal welfare legislation is essential to create a level playing field for livestock farmers across the EU and to improve animal welfare. 
• To ensure European farmers remain competitive despite higher production costs, animal welfare needs to be recognised and rewarded as a public good. More targeted use of Common Agricultural Policy budgets and national funding, potentially supported by a levy on animal products, can help to achieve this. An EU-wide animal welfare label can stimulate market demand for higher welfare standards.
• Climate-efficient animal farming requires incentives for the uptake of on-farm greenhouse gas reduction technologies and practices, including feed additives, improved manure management, anaerobic digestion, and breeding. Implementing a system of voluntary incentives is an essential step. Over time, pricing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions needs to follow, providing stronger incentives and generating resources for reinvestment in innovation.
• Making extensive or semi-intensive use of permanent grasslands economically rewarding is important to support the numerous public goods they provide. Offering premiums that reflect land opportunity costs is one option. In addition, introducing an indicator that measures the ratio of potentially human-consumable protein in feed to the human-consumable protein produced, would improve transparency on protein efficiency and encourage greater use of pasture feeding.

Improving the availability, affordability, taste, convenience, and nutritional quality of plant-based and novel protein products can broaden consumer choice, support more sustainable consumption patterns and boost competitiveness. At the same time, this could present a challenge for livestock farmers. Providing tangible income diversification options is therefore an essential part of a diverse protein future.