In the European beef cattle sector, we are clear about this, and we work closely with scientists and technicians to improve our production system in different areas every day.
The Walloon Agency for the Promotion of Quality Agriculture (Apaq-W) and the Interprofessional Organization of Beef in Spain (Provacuno) have begun with the actions within the promotion plan co-financed with European funds “Sustainable European Beef” (SEUB).
A program that over the next three years aims to inform both the public and the sector itself, about the sustainability of European beef, what we are doing from the sector to improve our daily sustainability as well as the areas where we can further enhance our practices. The programme will also emphasise how we can contribute to reducing emissions and preserving and enhancing the soil.
In the European beef cattle sector, we are clear about this, and we work closely with scientists and technicians to improve our production system in different areas every day. Evidence of this can be seen in the tools we have developed to assist producers in their daily work, as well as in the numerous research projects we are involved in to continuously improve the sector.
Codes of environmental good practices
Thus, in the case of Provacuno, in May 2019—anticipating the EU’s Green Deal—we presented our ‘Carbon Neutral 2050 Beef Strategy’; and a year later, in June 2020, we launched our ‘Code of Good Environmental Practices for Beef Cattle Farming’, which was further completed in November 2023 with two additional codes: one specific to the meat industry and another for retailers. These codes have become the cornerstone of our Carbon Neutral 2050 Beef Strategy and have been designed to promote sustainability and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the value chain. To develop these codes, we collaborated with scientists from INIA, the Remedia Network, and the SCOoPE project.
Currently, Provacuno is actively collaborating on various projects aimed at reducing emissions and improving the sustainability of the European beef sector, such as the Advanced Agro-composting of Beef Manure project, the SECUESVAC Operational Group, the Water Footprint project, and the European Re-Livestock project, Resilient Farming Systems.
In the case of Belgium, also form the sector we launched several initiatives to help farmers improve sustainability. Thus, in 2019, the Belgian Farmers’ Interprofessional Organization (Belbeef) presented the BelBeef Standard, a comprehensive certification system for Belgian beef that covers all production stages and meets all legal requirements regarding food safety, traceability, animal welfare, and sustainability. As a complement to this standard, Belbeef also created the Sustainability Observatory, a tool designed to map and quantify the beef sector’s sustainability progress, providing producers with a list of potential initiatives to implement on farms, thereby contributing to the sector’s ongoing sustainability efforts.
The Walloon Agricultural Research Center (WARC) also has a sustainability unit developing various tools (DECiDE and PROBOV) to assess multiple sustainability indicators in agricultural production, including beef and dairy cattle farms.
Thanks to all these projects, tools, and initiatives, we now have a safe, sustainable, and regionally committed European beef sector working towards the Carbon Neutral 2050 goal.
