Europe’s farming landscape is rich and diverse. This diversity should be explored and leveraged to create more opportunities for sustainability in the sector. Different farming systems across the continent offer unique advantages, and recognising their potential is key to future agricultural development.
Over the past years, animal farming has been increasingly criticised for contributing to environmental pollution, climate change, biodiversity losses or animal suffering. This narrow view overlooks the complexity of the sector and the potential for improvement within existing systems.
While such criticism raises valid points, this narrative often disregards the positive contributions of the sector. The discussion has become increasingly polarised, and a select few farming practices and systems are idealised as the only sustainable way forward.
The Intergroup on Sustainable Livestock aims to provide a platform for Members of the European Parliament to discuss the diversity of existing practices, but also new methods and techniques to both support and improve animal farming systems.
Pathways for improvement should be explored to allow the sector to become more environmentally, socially and financially sustainable, while:
This holistic approach will allow members of the European Parliament to better weigh up and balance both the impacts and benefits of the sector, within a more circular agriculture as well as the value chain as a whole.
The central objectives are to contribute to depolarising current debates and to work together to provide realistic pathways towards further sustainability in animal farming, including for animal welfare.