MEP Kelly hosts Sustainable Livestock Farming Conference in Brussels

Seán Kelly MEP will bring EU policy makers, agri-industry representatives, farmers and retailers together at a high-level Brussels conference on Sustainable Livestock Farming in Europe tomorrow (Tuesday, 20 October).

Today, the EU livestock sector accounts for 48 percent of total EU agricultural activity, with an estimated €130 billion output value annually, employs almost 30 million people. With an estimated 60 percent increase in global demand for high quality protein such as milk, meat and eggs by 2050, the sector faces a stark challenge, according to Mr Kelly.

“It is vital to highlight the importance of ensuring a coherent approach to the twin challenges of food security with climate ambition,” said MEP Kelly, who will represent the European Parliament at the Paris Climate Change conference in December.

“Innovation towards the sustainable intensification of food production is an important step in meeting the challenge of food security in an environmentally sustainable manner”, he added.

Mr Kelly will also be joined at Tuesday’s event by Alan Jagoe, President of the European Council of Young Farmers.

Under the umbrella of the K4I Forum (Knowledge4Innovation),  tomorrow’s conference, hosted by MEP Kelly brings together European Union policy makers as well as representatives from the agricultural industry, the farming community and the retailer sector to discuss the policy paper Sustainable livestock production in Europe: A question of food security, climate and innovation.

The paper – presented by an informal stakeholder group on sustainable livestock – puts forward insights and policy recommendations for policies and practices that can foster the sustainability of livestock production in the EU; this includes clearly identifying the use of sound and safe technology and innovation for a long-term approach to increasing EU’s own animal production volumes in a sustainable way.