Letter from Brussels - May 2026

Last year, as part of the Vision for Agriculture and Food document published by the European Commission, a livestock strategy was announced. It recognises livestock as an essential component of the EU agricultural sector and the wider food value chain. The good news for farmers is the recognition of the value of livestock farming against a backdrop of the necessity to meet climate mitigation targets which is hindered by the fact that cattle emit methane. An EU document pertaining to this states: 

“The sector makes a major contribution to the EU economy, sustains rural communities, and supports landscape management and the preservation of environmental values.”
In March, the Commission launched a public consultation aimed at collecting stakeholder opinions on the future direction of livestock farming in the context of sustainability, animal health, and economic viability. In the Commission’s work programme for 2026 – this sets out the most important new policy and legislative initiatives it will take in the year ahead – under the priority ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’, the Commission said that ‘the livestock strategy will foster the competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of the EU livestock sector and agri-food chain’.
It will be interesting to see what the Commission plans are in relation to the future direction it foresees for the livestock sector. They will have received thousands of responses from all society, from those who want to phase out farming animals to farmers who want assurances for a viable future. That’s democracy in action.
It will take into account the difficulties faced by the sector, economic uncertainty, declining herd numbers (head of cattle in the EU has dropped 10 per cent over the past two decades), farm closures (down from 14 million farms to nine million since the turn of the century), animal disease and welfare risks, the sector’s environmental and climate footprint, the growing global population and with it, the increased consumer demand for high quality sustainable livestock derived produce.
But it will also consider the positive transformation that is happening in the sector including innovation in breeding, feed efficiency, animal health and welfare, and digital technologies which are all about improving productivity and reducing environmental impacts. In the context of territorial diversity, the Commission is aiming to publish a future-proof, long-term vision to ensure that the EU livestock sector is crisis resilient, globally competitive and sustainable in all dimensions. There is also a recognition of the role of livestock farming in sustaining rural and mountain areas and underpinning rural employment. It’s a seismic initiative which we will see in the flesh in the coming weeks.