Thematic Group on the CAP's Role in Supporting Sustainable and Competitive Livestock Systems

Livestock systems play an important economic, social, environmental and cultural role in the EU. As well as producing meat, dairy and other products (e.g. wool) and supporting rural livelihoods, sustainable livestock systems can provide a range of services, such as maintaining semi-natural, high nature value habitats, supporting biomass management and carbon storage in the soil, enabling nutrient recycling, and shaping the cultural and landscape characteristics of many local rural and remote mountain areas.

In the EU, there is a great diversity of livestock production systems, with the importance and type of livestock farming varying greatly between Member States and regions. Between 2010 and 2020, the share of agricultural holdings having livestock, as well as total livestock numbers in the EU, decreased due to restructuring in different parts of the sector. Currently, cattle (both dairy and beef) account for almost half of all livestock in the EU, with pigs accounting for about a third, and poultry making up 15%. Livestock density varies greatly across regions (0.2 - 4.4 LU/ha), with an average livestock density in the EU of 0.7 LU/ha.

As is the case for all forms of agriculture, livestock also has to play its part in addressing agriculture’s environmental and climate footprint. This includes improving nutrient management, promoting nutrient circularity, and reducing emissions through enhancing the development of sustainable production models, as well as enhancing the economic viability of extensive systems to reduce the risk of land abandonment to maintain semi-natural, high nature value habitats.

Finding ways of transitioning to more sustainable livestock production systems in the EU is therefore key, reflecting on both their diversity and the different benefits they provide. The Vision for Agriculture and Food highlights this as a priority. It recognises that sustainable livestock systems are ‘crucial for the EU economy, viability of rural areas and preservation of the environment and of rural landscapes’, and highlights that a key challenge is to find ways to ‘address its climate/environment footprint, including ways to valorise the link between livestock production and maintenance of environment- and climate-valuable grasslands through more extensive livestock systems beneficial to the preservation of biodiversity and landscapes ‘. This requires finding ways to support livestock farming towards greater sustainability in environmental and climatic terms while recognising and accelerating the efforts already made, taking into account the diversity of systems and territorial specificities. To this end, the European Commission has established a dedicated workstream on livestock, with a focus on exploring policy pathways for a competitive, future-proof, sustainable and fair livestock sector in the EU.

The current CAP offers a range of interventions that Member States can use to support the sustainability and competitiveness of the livestock sector in all its diversity. This includes investment support and area-based payments (eco-schemes and agri-environment-climate interventions) as well as support for cooperation, innovation and knowledge exchange. Despite this, there is more that can be done to maximise their use within Member State CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs), for these purposes.

This TG is an opportunity for you to be part of a committed group of experts and relevant stakeholders that will explore how to improve the way CSPs are used to support transitions to more sustainable livestock systems, taking into account the diversity of systems in the EU. It will explore ways to reduce their climate/environmental footprint, as well as maintain those systems that are beneficial for biodiversity and landscapes, taking into account the economic and socio-cultural implications of such changes to make them resilient for the future. It will build on experiences and situations in different regions and value chains.

 The objectives of this TG are to: