Innovative grass-based beef production systems can help address the challenges faced by the European beef sector as well as citizens’ concerns about the sustainability of the current beef production and consumption levels. When managed correctly, grass-based beef production systems contribute to improving biodiversity, capturing carbon, sustaining the soil microbiome, structuring the landscape, preventing erosion and forest fires. This is in addition to their primary role in transforming non-edible resources into human food with a high nutritional value and to their economic contribution in maintaining vital rural areas. Innovative approaches, arising from cooperation between farmers, other actors in the value chain, including researchers and advisers and with citizens, can support the grass-based beef sector to become more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable.

This report presents the findings and conclusions of the EIP-AGRI Focus Group (FG) Sustainable beef production. The FG consisted of a temporary group of 20 experts with complementary types of knowledge, from 15 European countries.

The main question which guided the FG discussions and activities was “How can grass-based beef production systems, based on agroecology principles, remain sustainable?”.

When addressing this question, the experts of this FG defined “sustainable grass-based beef production” as a type of production which is based on the agroecological principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability and for cattle which is predominantly grass-fed and grazed on pastures where possible given the soil and climate conditions.