Socioeconomic Resilience

The recording of technical and economic data, that enables the beef cattle farmer to improve his/her technical and economic performance. Examples could be long term and short term planning tools. 

View the Good Practices and Research Innovations relating to this topic on the BovINE Knowledge Hub here

View the Good Practices and Research Innovations relating to this topic on the BovINE Knowledge Hub here

Beef cattle farms face risks of different natures such as diseases, extreme weather conditions and/or strong variations of input and output prices. Examples are management practices to reduce diseases, forward purchasing of feed and fertiliser, and cattle sales contracts. 

View the Good Practices and Research Innovations relating to this topic on the BovINE Knowledge Hub here

View the Good Practices and Research Innovations relating to this topic on the BovINE Knowledge Hub here

The consumption of beef and veal in the EU declined from 7.5 million tons in 2005 to 6.4 million tons in 2012. After a short period of recovery of consumption levels, beef consumption in the EU was sharply down in 2020 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue its downward trend. By 2030, it could further drop from 10.6 kg to 9.7 kg per capita. Moreover, in many countries, we notice a shift from high-quality cuts to ground beef.  Many reasons can be mentioned that explain the lower appeal of beef for consumers: relatively high price with respect to other types of meat, the BSE scandal in the nighties of the last century, high consumption of red meat with a probable higher incidence of cancer (report of WHO), the carbon footprint of beef is worse with respect to pork and poultry meat. All this information caused a loss of the image of beef on the market and damaged the trust of consumers. 

How can beef cattle farmers act to reverse this trend or at least halt its further decline? Can they implement strategies, individually or collectively, that attract consumers? Do direct sales increase the trust of consumers by offering full transparency? May certification systems contribute to informing consumers about healthy and environmentally sound production systems? 

These are some of the questions we will try to answer in 2021. We will consult the scientific and grey literature to collect innovative approaches of beef cattle farmers, that are able to tackle these questions. Results of research projects concerning short food chains involving beef sales will be analysed. The objective of this analysis is to provide beef cattle farmers with alternative and innovative practices, that can be adopted to improve the image of beef on the market. 

Housing systems for beef cattle are essential for their health and welfare. Housing systems are able to provide as well comfort for operators and may allow the reduction of labour and alleviate the handling of animals. Climate control systems are useful to reduce heat stress both for cattle and operators during the summer months. Some flooring systems may be labour efficient for the removal of manure but may impair feet health of beef cattle. Innovative solutions are necessary that are able to meet apparently contradictory requirements. In the last 20 years more efficient housing systems have been developed both for suckler cows as well as for finishing cattle.   

For this topic we will look at novel housing systems and equipment, that may improve the welfare and health of beef cattle and that may reduce the workload for the operators. Special attention will also be paid to the efficient use of water and energy. Scientific and grey literature will be collected and analysed in order to find the most innovative housing systems, that can be disseminated among the beef cattle farmers in Europe. As the housing systems differ between stables for suckler cows and finishing cattle the collection of innovative systems will be distinctive for these two “target” groups of beef cattle. The collection of innovative housing systems will not only be limited to the stable constructions but will be extended to the equipment used in the different housing systems that are able to reduce the level of stress on both the animal and the operators.    

For decades a debate is ongoing about a fairer distribution of value added between the actors of the food supply chains. The increasing bargaining power of multiple retailers is always being put forward as one of the causes of an unfair distribution of welfare between demand and supply. Policy at all levels (EU and national governments) tries to intervene in order to establish equal market conditions for the economic actors and to reduce excess of market power of retailers.  Producers organisations have been set up to increase market power of farmers with respect to slaughterhouses and retailers. Direct sales strategies can be considered as an alternative to maintain more value added on the farm. At first sight direct sales look very attractive, but these strategies need focused programmes in order to be successful.

Since 2021 the prices of raw materials for feed has increased significantly. Soybean prices skyrocketed since 2020 due to the increased world demand, primarily triggered by China’s imports. This country is reconstituting its pig population after the dramatic consequences of the African Swine Fever disease. Cereal prices have increased at a lower rate, but have reached peak prices. In particular maize rose from 220 €/ton in January 2021 up to 260€ in January 2022..

This tendency poses the question for beef cattle farms to reduce their economic vulnerability and look for alternative feeds. On farm production of feeds may be attractive, as it may increase self-sufficiency. There are different options for the farmers, as these heavily depend on the starting position. Grass based cattle farms have to look for different alternatives than farmers that rely primarily on arable crops. Alternative feeds might also be found on the market, but their energy and protein contents needs to be compatible with growth requirements of beef cattle. Also alternative feed should not compromise final meat quality.