Livestock Strategy and Protein Action Plan: Correct Diagnosis – But No Cure Prescribed

On 7 July 2026, the European Commission published its much-anticipated Livestock Strategy, setting out its vision for the future of Europe’s animal farming sector. Alongside it came a Protein Action Plan, aimed at reducing the EU’s heavy dependence on imported protein feed. Both are too timid to help farmers break out of structural dependencies.

The Commission rightly acknowledges that the sector faces multiple challenges: low farm incomes, dependence on nature-destroying soy from Brazil and the US, climate change, biodiversity loss, animal diseases and growing public concern about animal welfare and pollution.

The diagnosis is accurate. Yet the prescription is still largely missing.

The Commission recognises that Europe would benefit from farming systems that rely less on imported feed and fertilisers, and from producing and eating more home-grown legumes such as beans, peas and lentils. It also acknowledges the role of grazing cattle and mixed farming in supporting healthier soils, greater biodiversity and more resilient rural economies.

Indeed, Europe’s intensive livestock sector – especially poultry and pig production – depends heavily on imported soy, continuing to drive deforestation and forcing Indigenous Peoples from their lands, while exposing farmers to geopolitical and market shocks. Producing more protein-rich crops in Europe for both animal feed and human consumption, and supporting farming systems where animal numbers remain in balance with what local land and feed resources can sustain, would help reduce those risks.

But the Commission’s plans stop short of proposing the policies needed to spur that transition.

Instead, the Commission places considerable faith in innovation and technological solutions, from improved breeding techniques and optimised feeding strategies to feed additives. While some of these tools may have a role to play, only about a quarter of emissions from animal farming could be reduced through technical measures and these often depend on costly investments that leave farmers with no choice but to scale up production to recoup costs.