Impacts of Environmental Targets on the Livestock Sector: An Assessment Tool Applied to Italy

Environmental and climate targets are becoming very relevant policy objectives for European agriculture. The introduction of environmental targets could have important impacts on production, land use and economic dimensions of the EU agricultural sector. The livestock sector is influenced doubly, considering crop cultivation and livestock-rearing activities and their interactions. This study assesses the impacts on Italian livestock farms from the implementation of some environmental targets set by the Farm to Fork strategy, i.e., reducing the use of chemical inputs for forage crops and antimicrobials for livestock. An agroeconomic supply model based on microdata from the Farm Accountancy Data Network is used to evaluate the impacts on production, land use and socio-economic outcomes. Results show an increase of feed purchases to maintain livestock numbers in all farm types, while limiting the use of chemical inputs for forage crops. Adding limitations on the use of antimicrobials, livestock number decreases in all farm types, but especially in those rearing granivores. Negative economic impacts are particularly observed in farms of small and medium economic size. The highest reduction of labor employment occurs in farms of large economic size. Results could support policymakers’ decisions in setting measures that aid transition towards more sustainable farming systems.