The market impacts of shortening feed supply chains in Europe

Abstract

Recently, consumers' awareness regarding food production has increased, leading to a growing focus on shorter food supply chains and regional or local food systems. In the livestock sector, these developments are closely related to a regionalization of feed production. At the same time, a low self-sufficiency rate in protein feed is being reported for many European countries. In this paper, we analyze market impacts resulting from a complete switch to regionally produced feed in the European livestock sector. We simulate a shortening of feed supply chains in European livestock production using a large-scale agricultural sector model. Livestock production was restricted to feed that can be produced within the same EU member state. Our work represents a first step towards a simulation of regional or local food systems. The results reveal large increases in the prices of livestock products in Europe due to the shortening of feed supply chains. This is a result of a significant increase in livestock production costs. The ability to supply livestock products with regionally produced feed in the EU would be improved through a reduced consumption of livestock products.

Examination of Short Supply Chains Based on Circular Economy and Sustainability Aspects

“…However, following Born and Purcell [128], we agree that "local traps" should be avoided, which means local systems should not be automatically declared as "good practices", based solely on proximity. As Depperman et al (2019) [97] suggested, one has to be very careful with statements that call "local food" equal to "sustainable food".…”

“…Because of agro-ecological and socio-ecological differences, it is not certain that the environmental impact of local food is lower, for example, if a given production site is more suitable for producing a certain type of food, compared to other (closer) areas [102]. Because of these facts, in agreement with the words of Depperman et al (2019) [97], one has to be very careful about statements that call local food equal to sustainable food. Consuming local food is not always an environmentally beneficial option.…”

“…In the case of livestock rearers, regional (local) feed supply can also have a positive environmental impact, but it can also significantly increase the consumers' price of meat and dairy products. The socio-ecological impact of price increases can be significant; on the one hand, it can contribute to the change of dietary habits, for example by switching to plant-based foods; however low-income consumers may not be able to effectively change their buying habits [97].…”

Agri-Food Markets towards Sustainable Patterns

“…Recently, scholars focused on alternative food systems (AFSs) and short food supply chains (SFSC) (i.e., farmers' markets, farm shops, fruits and vegetables boxes, pick-your-own food farms, community-supported agriculture, Internet sales through e-commerce operators, etc.) [182,[256][257][258][259][260][261][262][263], and the opportunity they offer in increasing sustainability, by the reduction of food and package waste [264] and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [265][266][267][268][269][270][271][272][273] and in providing ecological, health and socio-economic benefits [274][275][276][277][278]. SFSC allow consumers to connect more directly with both farmers and food producers thus enhancing local and rural development [279,280], and are an effective strategy for the preservation and development of urban agriculture, thus addressing the issue of food quality and security [268,281,282].…”

“…Although many advantages are associated with AFSs [260,264,284], there are doubts as to whether SFSCs deserve the reputation of being really environmentally sustainable [263,285]. Indeed, they can have sometimes adverse economic, environmental and social impacts.…”