The European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee (AGRI) has released its draft Own-Initiative (INI) Report on the sustainability of the EU’s animal farming sector. Unfortunately, it does anything but tackle sustainability.
At a time when the EU agri-food system is under pressure from climate change, biodiversity loss, rising production costs and eroding public trust, this report should have offered clear, science-based direction. Instead, it offers a conservative, defensive narrative that basically protects the status quo.
The word “sustainability” may be in the title, but meaningful action to achieve it is absent. There is no meaningful provision for animal welfare, when it should be one of the clearest indicators of environmental and ethical sustainability in animal farming systems. There is no recognition of the climate impact of intensive animal agriculture, nor any mention of the need to diversify proteins or reduce dependency on imported feed. The report reads like a memo from the industrial meat lobby.
In short, it fails farmers and it fails the future.
Upcoming votes in the AGRI committee are unlikely to fix it. Many amendments tabled still refuse to face the scale of the crisis or to engage with credible alternatives – from agroecology and protein diversification to higher-welfare, lower-impact farming systems.
All hopes now rest on the European Parliament plenary vote, expected to take place in the fall.
We are actively engaging with MEPs to highlight the urgent need to place animal welfare at the heart of discussions, especially in the context of sustainability and the essential shift toward a more resilient, green, and future-proof agri-food system.
Farmers deserve real support, not empty slogans and business-as-usual policies. That means listening to farmers who are ready to transition, to citizens demanding better animal welfare and to the science that makes clear the need for change. This INI report could still become a stepping stone for progress – but only if Parliament shows political courage in plenary. We are following this closely and working to ensure animal welfare, sustainability, and justice don’t stay sidelined.