Why and how to regulate animal production and consumption: the case of the European Union

Zohra Mechemache, Vincent Chatellier, Luc Delaby (), Cecile Detang-Dessendre, Jean-Louis Peyraud () and Vincent Réquillart
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Luc Delaby: PEGASE - Physiologie, Environnement et Génétique pour l'Animal et les Systèmes d'Elevage [Rennes] - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - INSTITUT AGRO Agrocampus Ouest - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement
Jean-Louis Peyraud: CODIR - Collège de Direction - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement

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Abstract: Throughout the world, animal production faces huge sustainability challenges. The latter are exacerbated in the European Union (EU) by consumption issues linked, in particular, to the health and environmental impacts of meat consumption, and by the increasing societal concerns linked to animal welfare. Simultaneously, animal production may also provide benefits, notably from an economic and nutritional point of view. Some livestock systems, notably grass-based systems, may also offer positive climatic and environmental effects. Animal production is highly regulated in the EU, whereas the consumption of animal products is not (or very lightly) regulated. Many of the negative and positive effects are public goods that are not well taken into account by private actors and markets. Thus, there is legitimacy and scope for public policies aimed at reducing the damage and increasing the benefits of animal production and consumption. The last part of the paper explains how this could be achieved in the EU through a significantly revised and extended Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that more closely follows the principles of public economics. Public regulation principles that are proposed have a more general scope and can be adapted to other livestock contexts.

Keywords: Animal production; Animal consumption; European Union; Public regulation; Public economics; Productions animales; Consommation de produits animaux; Union européenne; Réglementation publique; Economie publique (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-04-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-env and nep-reg
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published in 14. Journées de Recherches en Sciences Sociales, Apr 2021, Clermont-Ferrand, France

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Working Paper: Why and how to regulate animal production and consumption: the case of the European Union (2021)
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