May 17, 2022

EU's Common Agricultural Policy found to help improve animal welfare

The European Commission published a study examining how the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2014-20 contributed to improving animal welfare and reducing antimicrobial use.

In most regions and EU member states studied, animal welfare and antimicrobial use were mostly addressed through rural development measures. The measures proved to be most effective when combining investments in better housing conditions, feeding and health management.

For most member states and regions, cross-compliance through requirements of the EU legislation on animal welfare and food law was effective in influencing farmers' practices.

As a whole, the CAP appears to have helped improve animal welfare locally, in specific sectors and/or member states and regions, depending on the implementation choices.

However, it remains difficult to assess the actual changes in practices driven by CAP instruments, since there is a lack of indicators to document progress made in implementing certain measures, or their corresponding effects. This leads to a number of recommendations for the next CAP.

The main recommendation is for EU member states to implement more widespread measures targeting animal welfare, according to the European Commission.

A common EU methodology to document best animal welfare practices to implement on-farm, with relevant targets, should be developed, the commission said.

Other suggestions include providing a comprehensive overview of the number of animals concerned by different types of interventions addressing animal welfare and antimicrobial use at national level; exploring the extension of mandatory labelling to other animal-husbandry sectors by mentioning production systems or housing conditions on the label; and a methodology to find indicators to assess the level of ambition of the targets on animal welfare proposed in the CAP Strategic Plans.

- European Commission