Forty farmers, researchers, and representatives of public and civil organisations from 18 European countries gathered in Bruxelles, on the 29th of January, to participate in the first meeting organised by the EU CAP Network Thematic Group focused on ‘Sustainable and Competitive Livestock sector’.
This initial meeting focused on two connected areas: 1) identifying challenges that the livestock sector faces, and 2) bringing these complex challenges into well-articulated pathways. The meeting began with short presentations focused on recent HEU projects results, current livestock policy environment and good practices in the livestock sector. Part of LiveNet project and as the leaders of WA4, which focuses on embedding the national livestock networks into the EU level AKIS ecosystem, HCC attended the meeting and had a presentation focused on extensive mountain farming in Romania.
The identified challenges were discussed within the context of developing suitable pathways for the three farming systems: extensive, intensive and mixed. The group covering the extensive farming system highlighted as important proper land management, adding value to the livestock production, cooperation and receiving public and market support for the ecosystem services provided by the extensive system. The ‘intensive farming system’ group focused on the feeding of the livestock (circular feed systems and reduced imports), product differentiation by providing a good narrative for the animals’ well-being, and the importance of farming data. The group covering the mixed farming system considered as key aspects using the right livestock breed, bringing the farmers and consumers closer together by supporting local market initiatives, having availability of grassland in the farm proximity and integrated data systems. During the plenary discussion were highlighted the commonalities between the three farming systems, such as:
1) the importance of cooperation,
2) using the right communication narratives and channels for bringing farmers and consumers closer
3) the importance of farming data.
The Thematic Group will meet for a second meeting in April 2026, when the available and necessary CAP measures for implementing the identified pathways will be brought into discussion. Until then, you can find all the presentation here: https://eu-cap-network.ec.europa.eu/events/1st-meeting-thematic-group-caps-role-supporting-sustainable-and-competitive_en#tab_id=tab-documents and keep an eye on the EU CAP Network and social media channels where the key results will be made available very soon.
