European workshop of the SCAR CWG SAP on the future of livestock farming

On 5 and 6 November 50 participants from 16 countries attended a workshop at INIAV headquarters in Oeiras, Portugal. Aim of the event was to develop a common vision for European livestock farming.

After presentations from DG AGRI on the European livestock sector and from the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture, national approaches to the future of livestock farming were presented from Portugal, Finland, Denmark and Ireland. The discussions focussed on the four topics GHG emissions, Biodiversity, Circularity and Resilience.

During the workshop, those elements of a vision agreed on by all participants (the „common denominator“) were identified for the four topics.

The workshop showed that, despite regional differences, there is considerable common understanding across countries that will be helpful to jointly develop the role of livestock farming in future agri-food systems.

The workshop was organised by the SCAR Working Group on Sustainable Animal Production (CWG SAP), financed by the ERA-NET SusAn, and was supported by INIAV and RefreSCAR. The event followed the idea that a joint European vision will also support European research and innovation to develop future European livestock farming.

A summary of the workshop will be published at https://scar-europe.org/sap-documents

SCAR CWG SAP

Chair: Dr. Thomas Schneider, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Germany

Co chair: Dr. Susana Astiz, National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA), Spain

Secretariat: Dr. Arnd Bassler, Federal Office for Agriculture and Food, Germany

Contact: arnd.bassler@ble.de