Green Deal: an assessment of impacts of the farm to fork and biodiversity strategies on the EU livestock sector

Summary

This policy paper discusses the expected effects and trade-offs of the EU’s Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies (parts of the Green Deal) for the EU livestock sector, with a view to the possibilities and challenges to reach the targets. Based on an assessment of the sparse current studies, it is concluded that achieving the EU’s Green Deal objectives may lead to a reduction of livestock production in the order of 10 to 15%. The short-term impacts on farm net income are diverse (gainers as well as losers) and influenced by various factors such as prices, region-specific impact of environmental constraints, changes in CAP direct payments, development of costs and subsidies compensating for costs associated with the adoption of specific measures.