Reviving European livestock farming: Benoît Cassart calls for immediate and ambitious mobilisation.

As part of the Vision for Agriculture and Food, the European Commission announced its ambition to present a European strategy dedicated to livestock farming. Ahead of this initiative, the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee took the lead by drawing up an own-initiative report entitled: “How to ensure a sustainable future for the EU livestock sector, given the need to guarantee food security, farmers' resilience and address the challenges posed by animal diseases”.

This report aims to put forward concrete recommendations to the European Commission to address the major challenges facing the sector.

A sector at a critical turning point

“The European livestock sector is currently going through a pivotal period. Within ten years, the European Union has lost nearly three million farms, most of them livestock farms, while livestock numbers continue to decline across all sub-sectors.

At the same time, health crises are multiplying across Europe, even as production costs and administrative burdens rise sharply. In addition, there is a major challenge: generational renewal,” warns Benoît Cassart, rapporteur for the Renew Europe group, chair-initiator of the intergroup on sustainable livestock farming. He continues, “given this situation, urgent action is needed. This own-initiative report provides a clear-eyed assessment of the economic, social, environmental, health and trade challenges facing the sector, while proposing structural solutions to secure its future. We now expect concrete and swift action from the European Commission. We also draw attention to the dangers that renationalising the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) would pose for the livestock sector.”

Strong, cross-party proposals

More than 70 compromises were negotiated and backed by several political groups (EPP, S&D, Renew and ECR), reflecting broad convergence within the European Parliament.

Among the key recommendations:

• The creation of a High-Level Group on livestock farming, bringing together all stakeholders to put forward concrete solutions to the sector's challenges;


• The need to stop the sector's decapitalisation and recognise the essential role of livestock farming for biodiversity, soils and landscapes;


• Support for generational renewal, particularly through better access to land, credit and replacement schemes;


• Maintaining coupled support under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support farmers' incomes;


• The development of a European strategy on plant-based proteins to reduce reliance on imports;


• The launch of a plan to genetically improve European livestock;


• Greater coherence between environmental, agricultural and trade policies, including through mirror clauses;


• Accelerating approvals for alternatives to chemical fertilisers, such as RENURE;


• Recognition of livestock farming's role in the circular economy, particularly through biogas and biomethane;


• The introduction of funding to compensate for losses caused by predator attacks;


• Strengthening prevention, surveillance and response measures against animal diseases;


• The development and deployment of innovative vaccines, along with easier access to them at European level.

Next steps

The final vote on this own-initiative report will take place at the April plenary session.