Ireland takes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July 2026, and the EU long-awaited Livestock Strategy is set to land squarely within its six-month term. The timing could not be more significant. Yet reading through the Irish Presidency’s work programme, one searches in vain for the kind of systemic ambition this moment demands. Animals are present on the page. They are not, however, central to any coherent vision.
This matters because the problems facing European animal farming, and globally European agri-food systems are interconnected and cannot be addressed one by one. Scientific evidence is unambiguous. Animal production accounts for the majority of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, feed production and intensive land use are major drivers of biodiversity loss, and many of the environmental and health costs generated by the sector continue to be borne by society rather than reflected in market prices. A Livestock Strategy that responds to this reality with incremental technical fixes rather than a roadmap for structural transition will fail.
What a serious strategy looks like
Animal Advocacy & Food Transition has written to Irish agriculture Minister Heydon to make clear what is needed. The Livestock Strategy must support a shift toward more extensive, agroecological and higher-welfare farming systems. It must deliver a comprehensive revision of EU animal welfare legislation in line with current science. It must provide a clear pathway to ending cage farming, honouring the commitment made on the End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative, supported by over one million EU citizens. And it must be read in tandem with the forthcoming Protein Strategy, recognising plant-based production as part of the same transition. The Irish Presidency has an opportunity to shape this agenda. We will be watching to see whether it takes it.
