- The Interprofessional Organizations of the sector promote the Livestock-Meat Forum on two essential criteria: unity and a determined commitment to the country.
- At the presentation ceremony, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, highlighted the Government’s support for the livestock and meat sector “for providing quality food, promoting our exports and giving life to our rural environment”.
June 1, 2022. Acting in a coordinated way to face current challenges, such as sustainability and climate change, digitization and innovation or the demographic challenge and the structuring of rural Spain, are the strategic axes of the Livestock-Meat Foruma new initiative of the six interprofessional organizations in the sector that was presented today at the headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, with the participation of Minister Luis Planas.
In his speech, the head of the Spanish agri-food sector highlighted that “Society has to know that it has in our farmers, in the meat sector, one of the pillars for which it can feel calm”remarking «the need to publicize their work and the progress they are making to produce sustainable food, respectful of the environment and animal welfare».
The minister has reiterated the Government’s support for the livestock and meat sector “for providing quality food, boosting our exports and giving life to our rural environment”and in relation to aid for the promotion of the EU, has stated that it shares the concern of the sector: “Decreasing support for meat in promotion without prior discussion of the analysis and context that lead to that decision is wrong. Spain will defend this position within the framework of the EU»it is finished.
“All the sectors we represent are united and committed to our country”the presidents of Interporc, Manuel García, and of Interovic, Raúl Muñiz, affirmed in their interventions on behalf of the six interprofessionals (Asici, Avianza, Intercun, Interovic, Interporc and Provacuno). “We are determined to create a strong public-private collaboration to value our sectors and the work and dedication of the hundreds of thousands of professionals who work in them, not only because of the social, economic and territorial value that we already contribute, but also, and above all, for anticipating the challenges that society and the market demand of us. It is precisely this alliance that provides the best added value to this initiative»They have highlighted.
To do this, the Livestock-Meat Forumborn with the motto “Building country”is committed to three fundamental objectives:
- Share with society the efforts of the chain to be more sustainable and innovative hand in hand with economic development.
- Make the work and voice of Spanish municipalities visible.
- Develop truthful and transparent communication with the support of the scientific world.
And all this through the contributions of the sector to the Spanish economy, to the structuring of rural Spain and the establishment of the population, to sustainability and digitalisation, innovation and development.
The Spanish livestock-meat sector is a net generator of opportunities for our country: it creates quality jobs, revitalizes the territories where it is established and, thanks to its export vocation, it is promoting the Spain brand throughout the world. And all this, without losing the essence of the sector of protecting the territory and the environment, among other reasons, because its very existence depends on it.
The Forum meets the will of the livestock-meat chain to promote all progress in sustainability and the efforts and resources allocated to reduce the environmental impact, advance in the circularity of production and move towards environmental neutrality and the promotion of an environment more sustainable through significant economic investments, in innovation and in talent.
At the same time, the Forum also wants to publicize the important efforts made by the chain and the companies that comprise it to address a deep integration of digitization and innovation processes in the production processes of the sector.
The Forum It also intends to become, through the Municipal Livestock-Meat Network, the main defender of the economic and social activities that have allowed the survival of many cities and towns in rural areas. Its purpose is to establish meeting points that make visible the important work of the chain to face the demographic and economic challenges that the country must face, and promote public-private collaboration between city councils and the sector.
And lastly, the Forum aims to provide quality information on the challenges and actions of the livestock-meat chain. Biased, interested and directed information has recently become a serious problem that affects the public sector and the markets alike. The contribution of the Forum will be transparency and incorporation into the social debate of the world of science and research as the best means of knowledge about the meat-livestock chain and its productions.
The presentation ceremony of Forum has included the holding of two round tables of experts on “Sustainability and Digitization” and “The chain’s commitments to the demographic, generational and equality challenge”, moderated by the journalists Íñigo Inchusta and Elisa Plumed, with the participation of Manuel Lainez ( innovation and sustainability consultant), Carlos Piñeiro (information management systems in livestock), Francesc Boya (General Secretary of Demographic Challenge), Margarita Rico (professor-researcher at the University of Valladolid) and Lucía Velasco (livestock representative).
Link to Forum presentation: https://youtu.be/m7HjmGH0tgU
Web page: www.forogc.es
The Livestock-Meat chain
To correctly situate the enormous social and economic significance of the livestock-meat chain, we must refer to the millions of families in our country whose life and development is directly linked to livestock production, industry and meat marketing. More than 2 million people depend on this activity in Spain, from farmers who grow cereals and fodder to feed livestock, through the feed manufacturing industry, ranchers, meat industries, the animal health industry, veterinary professionals, the livestock and meat logistics and transport sector, auxiliary industries (agricultural machinery, livestock facilities, facilities for industry, cold storage, etc.), organized distribution (supermarket and hypermarket chains) and specialized retail distribution (butchers-delicatessen).
Livestock activity is carried out in more than 350,000 farms throughout the national geography and more than half of our activity is located in municipalities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants. Livestock directly employs more than half a million people and the meat and retail industries another 200,000 employees.
Livestock contributes 16,500 million euros to the Final Agricultural Production, while the turnover of the meat industry amounts to 31,727 million (28.5% of the entire agri-food industrial sector), with 9,107 million euros of exports in 2021 contributed to the country’s trade balance.