All the photos by Javier Bernal Revert
On Wednesday 29th November, AVEC hosted an event in Brussels which brought together key stakeholders to discuss sustainability in the European poultry sector. The event “Sustainability in practice: Spotlight on European Poultry” has been organised within the SUST EU Poultry Project and aimed to highlight the concrete sustainability measures companies have taken and facilitate a panel discussion with representatives from the European Parliament, the European Commission and the sector itself at a crucial time ahead of the European elections in 2024.
More than 90 people joined the event to learn about how we must prepare for the future with a growing population and an urgent need to preserve our planet for future generations.
The event showcased concrete examples of how European poultry companies have implemented sustainability measures with solar power, new transportation vehicles and recycled waste to ensure significant energy and water savings whilst reducing the environmental footprint.
Spotlight on best practices
Download the presentation by Helen Niemann & Michael Hoffschroer — Rothkötter Group, (Germany) here
Download the presentation by Christian Bagourd — LDC Groupe (France) here
Download the presentation by Jaume Coma — Grupo Vall Companys (Spain), here
The presentations were followed by a roundtable with MEP Martin Hlaváček from the European Parliament, Ricard Ramon i Sumoy, Deputy Head of Unit – Policy Perspective, DG AGRI, European Commission, Nan-Dirk Mulder, Senior Global Specialist Animal Protein from Rabobank and Saulius Petkevicius, Chair of the Sustainability Working Group at AVEC. The panel discussed how to ensure affordable European Poultry meat, food security, profitability and explored the main challenges and opportunities for continuous improvement of the sustainability of the European poultry meat sector.
Birthe Steenberg, Secretary General of AVEC, concluded the event stating: “Our sector is urgently calling for more dialogue about European Poultry! We ask national and European policy-makers to ask, listen and engage with us to ensure a balanced and fact-based discussion when legislation is made”.
If the European poultry sector continues producing sustainable food that is good for both the citizens and planet, change must be on fair terms for farmers and consumers.