Interbev holds an event to demand a balanced and multi-criteria approach to define sustainability

Several agriculture ministers and MEPs from the main political groups in the European Parliament have called for a shared European approach to sustainability. This common definition of a sustainable model of meat production and consumption should, according to them, reflect the contribution of livestock farming to biodiversity and the local economy.

The event entitled “Cattle, meat and the Green Deal: what vision for the EU?”, organized by INTERBEV, the French livestock and meat trade association, brought together livestock professionals (industry representatives, veterinarians), experts scientific and international (think tanks, university researchers, FAO representative) and European policy makers: Ministers of Agriculture, parliamentarians, representatives of the European Commission.

as he remembered Jean-Francois GuihardPresident of Interbev, in his introduction to the conference: “It is not the ecological transition that scares the representatives of the bovine, ovine, equine and caprine sectors. What we deplore is the lack of a clear vision, the inconsistency of the decisions and public policies, and the sometimes contradictory mandates that cloud our future prospects We want to collectively define which are the sustainable systems of meat production and consumption that we want to preserve in the European Union.

For Pascal CanfinChairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety: “For this transition to be a success, it is absolutely necessary to depolarize the issue, move away from ideology, see things in the most pragmatic way possible. The current system puts the burden on the farmer, the actor who probably has the least ability to change things for himself, you have to take into account the entire value chain.”

Marc FesneauFrench Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, believes that “it is a mistake to say that everything would be better if there were no more livestock. The role of livestock must be relativized with its usefulness: both to feed the population, and to decarbonize fertilization of soils thanks to natural inputs, maintain biodiversity and fight forest fires.

Irena Šinkothe Slovenian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, stressed that “we need to ensure food security in the long term, adapt to climate change and changes in lifestyles.”

Norbert TotschingAustrian Federal Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management, insists on the need to conceive of the transformation of our food systems as “a process that should not be approached unilaterally ecologically, but rather ecosocially: economically viable, ecologically feasible and socially balanced.

The issue of coherence between the EU’s trade and environmental policies was the focus of the debates, with a shared concern at all levels: how to preserve the European livestock sector if sustainability criteria are not applied in a similar way to imported products?

Participants agreed in highlighting the many environmental benefits of the grassland model (carbon storage, biodiversity preservation, etc.). According to them, these are the indicators that the European Union should promote in terms of sustainable livestock.

They launch a joint appeal to agree on a definition of sustainability, a sine qua non condition to protect and advance livestock farming in Europe.