The market impacts of shortening feed supply chains in Europe

• DOI: 10.1007/s12571-018-0868-2
• Publication Date: 2018-11-26T06:39:51Z
• Authors: Andre Deppermann; Petr Havlík; Hugo Valin; Esther Boere; Mario Herrero; Joost Vervoort; Erik Mathijs
• Keywords: CONSUMER; 0301 basic medicine; 2. Zero hunger; Science & Technology; GREENHOUSE-GAS EMISSIONS; PERCEPTIONS; 330; Agricultural sector model; LOCAL FOOD; PREFERENCES; 15. Life on land; 630; PRODUCTS; 12. Responsible consumption; 03 medical and health sciences; Regional feed supply; 13. Climate action; Food Science & Technology; SEARCH; EU; Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Recently, consumers’ awareness regarding food production has increased, leading to a growing focus on shorter food supply chains and regional or local food systems. In the livestock sector, these developments are closely related to a regionalization of feed production. At the same time, a low self-sufficiency rate in protein feed is being reported for many European countries. In this paper, we analyze market impacts resulting from a complete switch to regionally produced feed in the European livestock sector. We simulate a shortening of feed supply chains in European livestock production using a large-scale agricultural sector model. Livestock production was restricted to feed that can be produced within the same EU member state. Our work represents a first step towards a simulation of regional or local food systems. The results reveal large increases in the prices of livestock products in Europe due to the shortening of feed supply chains. This is a result of a significant increase in livestock production costs. The ability to supply livestock products with regionally produced feed in the EU would be improved through a reduced consumption of livestock products.