Europe’s livestock farmers are facing a difficult combination of rising production costs, volatile international markets, animal diseases, climate pressures and growing demands for higher environmental and animal-welfare standards.
At the same time, many European farms remain heavily dependent on imported high-protein animal feed, particularly soybeans and soybean meal. This exposes producers to international price fluctuations, transport disruptions, trade tensions and geopolitical crises.
The European Commission wants to address these vulnerabilities through a new EU livestock strategy and a broader plan to increase the production of protein-rich crops within Europe.
The initiatives are intended to protect livestock farming, strengthen agricultural supply chains and reduce excessive dependence on external suppliers. They also reflect a wider shift in European policy: food, animal feed, fertilisers and agricultural inputs are increasingly being treated as strategic resources.
Why protein has become a strategic issue
Protein is essential to European food production. Livestock farms need reliable supplies of protein-rich feed, while plant proteins are becoming increasingly important for human consumption, food innovation and alternative products.
Increasing the cultivation of crops such as peas, beans, lupins and soybeans could help diversify European agriculture while providing livestock producers with more locally produced feed.
Protein crops may also contribute to crop rotation, soil fertility and the more efficient use of agricultural resources. However, expanding production will require commercially viable markets, suitable processing facilities, investment in research and predictable support under the Common Agricultural Policy .
A major economic and territorial sector
Livestock production remains one of the central components of the European agri-food economy. It supports food processing, transport, veterinary services, rural employment and regional supply chains.
In mountain, remote and less productive regions, livestock farming also helps maintain landscapes, preserve economic activity and prevent agricultural land from being abandoned.
The Commission’s strategy must therefore take account of the diversity of European farming systems. Intensive farms, family farms, mountain grazing, Mediterranean pastoralism and mixed crop-and-livestock systems cannot all be governed through a single model.
The strategy may create important opportunities for farmers, cooperatives, seed producers, feed manufacturers, food processors, technology companies and research organisations.
However, difficult questions remain concerning competitiveness, farm income, environmental requirements, trade relations and the financing of the transition...
