Specific Challenge:

EU animal welfare legislation has evolved on the basis of scientific knowledge, improving the quality of animals' lives taking into account citizens' expectations and market demands. Nevertheless, a number of problems remain unsolved and the sector faces challenges to cope with them. Research is needed to further improve the management of animal welfare, by looking into new opportunities offered by technological developments, development of appropriate business models and linking animal welfare with other production parameters, including animal health and environmental performance.

Scope:

[2019] Precision livestock farming

Proposals should address various stages of the terrestrial livestock production system (e.g. breeding, rearing, fattening, transport and slaughter). Proposals should build on state of the art animal welfare approaches to develop innovative technologies, while also considering the needs to reduce emissions of air pollutants from agriculture. Work on indicators should be pursued, especially on those with potential for inclusion in efficient and impactful animal welfare management models. Innovative business models should be developed in order to make it easier for consumers to identify and choose enhanced welfare-friendly products. Projects may cover development of early warning systems; increased monitoring of behaviour, stress or other animal-based welfare indicators and effects on production efficiency; development of related intervention mechanisms.

Proposals  should fall under the concept of the multi-actor approach ensuring that all the stakeholders, from farmers to consumers and regulators, will contribute to the building of new animal welfare approaches to further add value to EU foods of animal origin.

Expected Impact:

: Provide the knowledge base for further improvements in animal welfare management and policy making. More specifically, activities will contribute to:

• a better understanding of animal welfare and associated animal behaviour;
• a broader range of animal welfare management strategies and tools;
• developing innovative approaches to measuring animal welfare at various stages of the production system ;
• increase the range of animal welfare management strategies and tools.

In the long run, projects shall increase the sustainability of the livestock sector by better responding to consumer demands and/or increasing competitiveness of the sector.