Tag: livestock

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The Future of Livestock. Navigating the Perfect Storm: Between Green Deal Ambitions, CAP Reform, and Market Realities

Today I had the pleasure to take part in a plenary session of the EAAP- European Federation of Animal Science annual conference in Hamburg. My contribution provided an overview and update of policy developments and challenges affecting the EU livestock sector. The talk was not a direct commentary on the Commission’s Livestock Strategy published in July this year, but it addresses many of the same issues. The presentation accompanying the talk can be downloaded here, and the whole plenary session can be viewed on the EAAP YouTube channel (link to be provided later). I reproduce the talk more or less as delivered in this post.

The perfect storm

Let me begin by stating the obvious. Livestock is of major economic and political importance to the European Union.

It accounts for around 40% of agricultural value added. It generates some €400 billion in annual turnover and supports around 7 million people across the value chain.… Read the rest

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Dealing with stranded assets in the green transition

The latest edition of the journal Nature Food includes an article by Anniek Kortleve and co-authors on the role that stranded assets in European agriculture might play during food systems transformation. The context they consider is a shift towards plant-based diets which it is assumed will lead to a corresponding reduction in the demand for livestock products (animal sourced foods, ASF). The paper estimates the value of the capital assets that would become redundant under diet shifts of different magnitudes. It highlights the role that depreciation of assets can play to limit the extent of stranded assets, while also arguing that targeted policy support will be needed to avoid prolonged lock-in and to accelerate more rapid food system transformation.

Stranded assets can result from a shift in demand, but also due to climate change. Think of investments in fruit trees or vineyards that are no longer productive in a particular area because of water scarcity or high temperatures.… Read the rest

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Regulating the most polluting livestock farms is justified

This post was first published in Acid News No. 4, December 2022 and is reproduced here with permission.

In April 2022 the Commission proposed to amend the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) to increase its effectiveness in reducing emissions of industrial pollutants that are harmful to human health and the environment.

The Directive seeks to ensure that installations operate using Best Available Practices. Installations covered by the IED are required to operate in accordance with a permit which sets conditions in line with the principles of the IED.

Around 52,000 installations are currently covered by the IED, of which 23,000 are large pig and poultry farms. One of the revisions proposed by the Commission is to extend the scope of the IED to include large cattle (dairy and beef) farms and to lower the size threshold for the inclusion of pig and poultry farms.

With a proposed threshold of 150 Livestock Units (LSU), this would increase the number of farms covered by the IED to around 185,000.… Read the rest

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First Lisbon Treaty ‘Euro-petition’ takes aim at livestock subsidies

The Lisbon Treaty has been ratified and among it’s political innovations is a “citizens’ petitions” tool. Article 8B says that

“Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties.”

… Read the rest
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First Lisbon Treaty 'Euro-petition' takes aim at livestock subsidies

The Lisbon Treaty has been ratified and among it’s political innovations is a “citizens’ petitions” tool. Article 8B says that

“Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties.”

… Read the rest
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Food safety – the Irish pork dioxin crisis revisited

An Irish Parliamentary Committee has just published the results of its investigation into the pork dioxin crisis in Ireland last December, which led to the slaughter of pigs on a number of farms which had been fed contaminated feed and the recall of all Irish pork products produced since 1 September from the home and export markets. In an earlier post, I provided some background to the crisis. I argued that the contamination incident raised three questions: how was it that the praised EU hygiene controls broke down in this instance? What will be the overall cost to the sector and to the economy of the dioxin contamination and the product recall?  And who will be asked to bear this cost? The Parliamentary Committee report makes some interesting findings on the first of these questions.… Read the rest

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The methane menace and hamburgers

A paper on the contribution to climate change of livestock methane emissions has found that the problem is likely to get worse as global demand for meat and dairy products increases. Dr Andy Thorpe, an economist at Portsmouth University, found that a single herd of 200 cows can produce annual emissions of methane roughly equivalent in energy terms to driving a family car 180,000 km.… Read the rest

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The CAP and Europe’s subsistence farmers

When the Commission unveiled its proposals for the health check back in November 2007, the DG Agri spin machine highlighted the proposals to introduce upper limits on the subsidies that are paid to Europe’s largest, wealthiest and most competitive farmers. What got much less attention was the plan to introduce lower limits, at a level of €250 per annum. This could make life even harder for some of Europe’s poorest farmers and shepherds who barely get a look-in when it comes to Brussels handouts. … Read the rest

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The CAP and Europe's subsistence farmers

When the Commission unveiled its proposals for the health check back in November 2007, the DG Agri spin machine highlighted the proposals to introduce upper limits on the subsidies that are paid to Europe’s largest, wealthiest and most competitive farmers. What got much less attention was the plan to introduce lower limits, at a level of €250 per annum. This could make life even harder for some of Europe’s poorest farmers and shepherds who barely get a look-in when it comes to Brussels handouts.

According to the Commission’s impact assessment, the introduction of the single farm payment and the enlargement of the EU into central and eastern Europe has dramatically increased the number of very small farms claiming subsidy from the CAP. As things stand, 31 per cent of single farm payment recipients receive less than €250. The Commission argues that:

The very large number of small beneficiaries of CAP direct payments reflects more general structural aspects of EU agriculture.

… Read the rest
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CAP killer?

We’re used to the arguments that the CAP’s subsidies and tariffs are very bad for many desperately poor farmers in the developing world, with some going as far as to say that the EU has blood on its hands but now comes a piece of medical research which suggests that EU farm subsidies are responsible for more than ten thousand diet-related deaths among European citizens. … Read the rest