Feed Chats: Episode 9 with Andrea Bertaglio

Episode 9 of Feed Chats had Andrea Bertaglio from European Livestock Voice join as a guest with Anton van den Brink, Deputy Secretary General at FEFAC, moderating the session. The episode is dedicated to the work surrounding the European Livestock Voice (ELV) and how it brings a balanced debate around the livestock sector that is playing such an essential role in Europe’s rich food heritage and future.

The episode kicked off with the topic of what the European Livestock Voice is and for Bertaglio to explain his own role within the group. Bertaglio explained that the European Livestock Voice is a project which is aiming to communicate and inform about livestock to tackle fake news and myths about the sector. Thirteen organisations in the livestock food chain sector, including FEFAC, come together speaking with one voice to counterbalance public disinformation on livestock issues with Andrea coordinating and supporting ELV goals.

Anton van den Brink asked Andrea Bertaglio what work ELV has previously done and what are the next steps. “We are constantly producing content: writing articles, posts, recording interviews, producing videos where we’re trying to communicate in a transparent, clear, and easy way where everyone can understand the topics”. In terms of the next steps for ELV, they are aiming to publish a couple of articles per week with also creating multiple reportages and an animation video about animal welfare.

The discussion continued with van den Brink asking Bertaglio what are the key topics for European Livestock Voice and where could the European feed industry play a role. Bertaglio stressed that at present the livestock sector is being challenged by the animal welfare topic in Europe and this would be the main ELV communication focus for 2023. “The environment is still very important, not only the climate but also water consumption and pollution and sustainability in general including the role of livestock in rural areas providing many jobs … and of course, the antimicrobial resistance issue. Livestock is accused of being the origin of this problem but it’s not and we need to clarify that”.  Regarding the feed sector, Bertaglio stressed that the circularity of the sector needs to be communicated, which FEFAC is already doing, and to highlight why the animal feed sector is not linked to being at the origin of the deforestation in South America. He also noted the importance of addressing feed vs food competition. “Many people think that you can grow food on land now used for feed production. They do not understand that this is not possible in many areas.”

Anton van den Brink wrapped up the session by thanking Andrea Bertaglio and referring viewers to visit the European Livestock Voice website.