Tero Hemmilä, President of MTK, emphasizes that the strategy promotes many important objectives, including animal welfare, animal health, productivity, security of supply and production standards for imports. However, these objectives must now be translated into action. 

- EU livestock production competes with imported products, which is why imported products must continue to be required to meet the same production standards. Ensuring adequate financing for investments that support the implementation of the strategy is also one of the most important issues in making the strategy a reality, Hemmilä says.  

- The EU must invest more strongly in promoting food exports. The food industry plays a crucial role in this. This is highly important for Finland as well. Increasing the production of plant proteins is essential both for protein self-sufficiency and for realizing the export opportunities that have been identified in food products,” Hemmilä continues.  

Strong Livestock Production Is the Backbone of Finnish Agriculture 

In Finland, livestock production accounts for more than half of agricultural income, significantly more than the EU average. This underlines the sector’s importance in both EU-wide and Finnish northern production conditions. Milk, beef, pork and poultry production sustain a broad food chain and support domestic food security, employment and livelihoods of rural regions. 

- The direction of the strategy broadly reflects the objectives that MTK and Finnish livestock producers have advocated for over many years, Hemmilä notes.  

One of the strategy’s key messages is that animal health and welfare improve productivity, reduce disease pressure and strengthen public acceptance of livestock production. The Commission emphasizes preventive measures, including vaccination and biosecurity, in combating animal diseases. It will also present legislative proposals to phase out cages in the laying hen and broiler sectors in autumn 2026 and in the pig sector in 2027. Finland is already well ahead in moving away from cages compared to many other European countries.  

- Finnish producers are pioneers in animal welfare, animal health and sustainable production. These strengths should serve as a model for livestock production throughout the EU, says Olli Heino, Veterinarian and Animal Health Expert at MTK.  

MTK welcomes the fact that the strategy acknowledges that food production inevitably generates emissions and that the discussion on recognizing the biogenic nature of methane within the short-term carbon cycle has now been opened.  

The Protein Plan Aims to Increase EU Protein Self-Sufficiency, but Greater Ambition Is Needed for Food and Feed Protein Production 

Alongside the Livestock Strategy, the Commission also published a Protein Plan aimed at increasing the share of EU-produced protein in feed use of oilseed and protein crops from 25% to 35% by 2035. Stronger protein self-sufficiency directly supports the competitiveness and security of supply of livestock production.  

Achieving this goal will require addressing bottlenecks in oilseed and protein crop production and improving production reliability. The Protein Plan highlights the importance of domestic plant breeding and effective crop protection solutions. Among other measures, it proposes simplifying authorization procedures for plant protection products and accelerating approval processes for both biological and conventional plant protection products at both EU and Member State level. 

- Increasing self-sufficiency in plant protein for animal feed and food production has been on the agenda of the Finnish agricultural sector for years. For example, in the pig sector, imported soy has already been replaced with domestic plant protein,” notes Mari Lukkariniemi, senior advisor at MTK.  

- Finland should invest more strongly in the breeding and cultivation of protein crops and oilseeds. This requires new varieties suited to Finnish growing conditions as well as a broad range of plant protection products to improve production reliability. Achieving this will require strong and long-term CAP funding as well as national funding. The strategy also highlights opportunities for cooperation between livestock and crop production through more efficient utilization of manure,” says Max Schulman, Senior Advisor, cereals and protein crops, at MTK.  

Discussions on the Livestock Strategy and Protein Plan will continue during the autumn in both the Council and the European Parliament. Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU is placing particular emphasis on the importance of livestock production. The Commission will continue discussions with stakeholders on concrete implementation measures throughout the autumn. 

Finland will play an active role in the implementation of both the Livestock Strategy and the Protein Plan. 

topics: bryssel, agricultural policy, animal welfare, animal production, mtkmobile, livestockstrategy, proteinplan, plantprotein