What we do
We aim to organise interaction and collaboration with all relevant stakeholders involved in the livestock production sector. Together, we work on promoting a sustainable and competitive livestock sector in Europe. We do this by developing dialogue with our target communities.
This implies interacting with the European Commission; with the Directorates General that together cover the operational areas of our founder technology platforms (DG RTD, DG SANTE, DG AGRI, DG ENV, DG CONNECT); with members of the European Parliament, especially with the parliamentary committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI committee); and with individual Member States; through national ministries and the permanent representation of Member States in Brussels and the Committee of the Regions; with other expertise groups like standing committees such as SCAR, FACCE JPI, and EU agencies (EFSA).
Finally, to fully develop an ‘agri-food systems’ approach, we provide an interface with other ETPs such as Plants for the Future, Food for Life and TP Organics.
Key issues
Our work is focused on the entire livestock production chain. This concerns developing healthy, balanced and robust animals and new production systems, that are more efficient and environmentally friendly, producing high quality and safe food. We distinguish the following key issues (click for further description):
- Sustainability issues
- Biobased economy
- Food quality, food safety, food security
- Animal health and animal welfare
- Finding new technologies that are acceptable to society
- Building competence
Focus areas
The livestock sector is an important sector for realising a bio-economy in Europe. Research and innovation are essential to safeguard and improve livestock’s function in Europe as supplier of safe and healthy food, reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases, making better use of resources, meeting the needs of consumers in ways that are appreciated by society and contributing to a viable economy are to be met. We therefore focus our work on promoting knowledge development and innovation to enhance a sustainable and competitive livestock sector in Europe. Our main focus areas for promoting research and innovation are:
- The Horizon2020 research and innovation programme 2014-2020
- The HorizonEurope research and innovation programme 2021-2027
- The European Innovation Partnership
- The reform of Common Agricultural Policy
Research & innovation priorities
To promote the support for research and innovation that enhances a sustainable and competitive livestock sector for Europe, we created a white paper with suggested research priorities in livestock science, that merit support under the Horizon2020 programme, the European Innovation Partnership and the CAP.
The white paper identifies four key areas for research and innovation in livestock to support a smart, sustainable and competitive Europe:
- Resource efficiency
- Responsible livestock farming systems
- Healthy livestock and people
- Knowledge exchange towards innovation
A number of issues above will depend, for real progress, on developments in more fundamental understanding in a number of areas. These are described under the header “Excellent Science”.
The white paper is a living document, which serves as input for discussion with all relevant stakeholders and will further develop over the years.
To support research and innovation in livestock to contribute to a sustainable, smart and competitive Europe, adequate research infrastructures are essential. Priorities for research infrastructures identified by the Animal Task Force are:
- Facilitating pan-European sharing of expensive experimental research facilities.
- Developing high throughput phenotyping infrastructures – physical and virtual.
- Investment in biobanks.