Europe’s broiler farmers gain new best practice resource

The new initiative looks to pool and disseminate new science and best practice to help European broiler producers raise standards in the areas of sustainability, welfare and health.

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BroilerNet will bring together best practice and innovative production methods in a knowledge sharing network to enable European broiler producers to face new environmental sustainability, animal welfare and animal health challenges. marrio31 | iStock.com
BroilerNet will bring together best practice and innovative production methods in a knowledge sharing network to enable European broiler producers to face new environmental sustainability, animal welfare and animal health challenges. marrio31 | iStock.com

The European broiler industry is set to benefit from a new platform dedicated to increasing its resilience and sustainability.

Launched in late September 2022, BroilerNet creates a space that brings together science and best practice and, it is hoped, will result in the creation of ready-to-apply innovative best practices. These should help the industry cope with challenges in the areas of environmental sustainability, animal welfare and animal health management over the coming decades.

Preparing for change

As in other markets, Europe’s broiler producers are facing growing pressure, both from consumers and regulators, to produce more sustainably. At the same time, pressure continues to grow where animal welfare and health are concerned, and BroilerNet has been established to help producers prepare for, and respond to, these growing demands.

The platform, funded by the EU’s key research and innovation funding program Horizon Europe, has a number of specific objectives which will see a pooling of knowledge and expertise. Amongst these is the creation of 12 national Broiler Innovation Networks.  

The networks will bring together broiler farmers, integrators, farmers’ organizations, advisors, researchers and organizations, with the goal of exchanging information on innovative ideas and good practices. They will also establish which areas are in most need of adopting new ways of working, and the challenges that the industry is facing in the areas of environmental sustainability, animal welfare and animal health management.

Sustainability, welfare, health

The initiative will also create Thematic Expert Networks. These will also be built around the themes of environmental sustainability, animal welfare and health management, and their task will be to evaluate and carry out cost-benefit analyses of the new ideas and practices identified by the Broiler Innovation Networks.

These two new networks will then work broiler Operation Groups within the European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI). With EIP-AGRI, which works to foster competitive and sustainable farming and forestry, the various groups will work to identify and disseminate new innovative solutions.

Knowledge dissemination

Once new practices have been evaluated to address challenges, they will be made available through a knowledge hub, accessible to both BroilerNet participants and the wider European industry. Materials will be produced in a variety of European languages and brought directly to producers through a series of road shows.

The EU is the world’s fourth largest poultry producer, sitting behind the U.S., China and Brazil, and estimates for last year suggest that the bloc produced 13.3 million metric tons of poultry meat, with 82.6% being broiler meat. The bloc already has some of the highest animal health, welfare and environmental regulations in the world, but these are being strengthened further still, meaning that Europe’s broiler producers will need to find new ways of working.

BroilerNet notes across Europe, while there are similarities in how broilers are produced, ever more differences are emerging due to varying availability of technology between countries, varying social and administrative environments, and natural conditions. Helping broiler producers, advisors and researchers to share knowledge should make the adoption of new practices quicker and easier. The project currently has finance to run until mid-2026.

 

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