This workshop, co-organised by ATF and the Fitter Livestock Farming project Group, will bring together animal scientists with livestock professionals and advisors, as well as researchers, non-profit & societal organisations and industry representatives, to discuss sustainable use of resources, preservation of biodiversity, livestock gene bank collections and improvement of soil quality in the livestock sector.

The Fitter Livestock Farming Project Group (PG) is a cluster of six research projects (FEED-A-GENE, GenTORE, GplusE, IMAGE, SAPHIR & SmartCow) funded by the European Commission and coordinated under the Common Dissemination Booster, aiming to bring Innovation to food safety and sustainable agriculture.

Towards environmentally friendly livestock farming

The livestock sector contributes substantially to the European economy and to the vitality of many European countries. The livestock sector also has great potential to contribute to mitigating climate impact. In the EU, whilst livestock are currently responsible for 7% of total emissions, there is a view that using grass to feed ruminants like cattle and sheep offers huge mitigation potential as grass is a large reservoir able to hold excess CO2. New technologies and relevant incentives like being able to select the most efficient animals will enable the livestock sector to use best practices to enable it to come close to CO2 neutrality as well as reducing methane and NO2 emissions. If these measures are taken up alongside reducing deforestation and better use of soils for agricultural production the livestock sector in Europe will be starting to significantly contribute to mitigation of climate impacts. In monogastric animal production, the use of innovative green protein (from grass), of precision feeding and the identification of new selection traits based on feed efficiency hold much promise to save feeds, reduce land use, and breed animals that are resilient to climate change.

Another relevant topic is the gene banks. The animal gene banks are an investment for countries and research institutions as well as an asset for the livestock sector. A better knowledge of these collections is key to stimulate to their use. However, information about gene bank collections is often hard to find for a breeder, because these gene bank collections are scarce.

The Fitter Livestock Farming PG focuses on these topics and is working on solutions and proposals to turn the EU sustainable livestock farming into reality.

Towards a competitive livestock production – how to prepare the future?

On 6th November, the afternoon session “What R&I can deliver to support climate mitigation and adaptation in livestock farming”, organised by the ATF and the Fitter Livestock Farming PG will take place in Brussels. The session will present products, tools, devices and systems, developed by the EU-funded projects from the Fitter Livestock Farming PG, that are tackling challenges in animal production through innovation to improve food security and livestock farming sustainability.

A Policy Paper on Sustainable European livestock farming systems

This workshop will provide inputs for a Policy Paper to be defined by the Fitter Livestock Farming PG. The paper, to be provided by end of the year, will propose priorities for research and innovation for Horizon Europe funding programme, from the European Commission.

WATCH THE VIDEO:

Free event but mandatory registration online (number of participants limited - registration before October 27th)

Programme:

Welcome (by Jean-Louis Peyraud, ATF President, and Nic Friggens, Fitter Livestock Farming)

Short introduction (by Jean-Charles Cavitte, European Commission - DG AGRI)

Setting the scene (by Jean-François Soussana, INRA/FACCE JPI)

Insights into projects outcomes: what is in for stakeholders on the common theme?

Chair: Nic Friggens, coordinator GenTORE and CDB cluster

Introduction by Nic Friggens

Pitches by 6 projects coordinators from the Fitter Livestock Farming CDB cluster: Feed-A-Gene (Jaap van Milgen), SmartCow (René Baumont), GenTORE (Nic Friggens), IMAGE (Michelle Tixier-Boichard), SAPHIR (Marie-Hélène Pinard), GplusE (representative: Andrew Cromie)

Questions to coordinators & answers

What R&I is needed to support climate mitigation and adaptation in livestock farming

Discussion with project coordinators and the audience - Moderation: Vivi H. Nielsen, ATF Vice-President for research providers/Aarhus University

Recap and ATF vision (by Jean-Louis Peyraud, ATF President)

Closing