Farmers concerns in relation to organic livestock production

Abstract

The study describes organic producers’ perceptions of organic livestock production, product commercialisation, use of contentious inputs such as allopathic antibiotics, antiparasitics and vitamins and bedding materials availability in Mediterranean (MED) and North/Western European (NWE) countries. A total of 426 MED (46.2%) and NWE (53.8%) responses were analysed revealing more difficulty finding information on alternatives to antiparasitics and antibiotics than on bedding materials. They identified ‘feeding/nutrition’, ‘animal health’ and ‘welfare’ as the most relevant topics in their farms. Whereas ruminants and monogastrics farmers in the NWE region also indicated ‘organic regulation’ as relevant, farmers rearing ruminant species in the MED region identified farm profitability and commercialisation. Farmers still mainly relied in conventional treatments but they often applied phytotherapy, although >61% of the participants did not treat their animals in the last year. If treated, most of them administered on average one course of antibiotic treatment per animal (>62%). In the MED region, the main sources of information on alternative treatments were veterinarians (>60%) and the Internet (>32%). In the NWE region, it was other farmers for producers including ruminant species (>63%) and veterinarians (>77%) for monogastric farmers. In the NWE region, direct commercialisation and through a cooperative and/or food industry were the most frequent channel used; while, in the MED region, they were the food industry and/or direct commercialisation. In conclusion, this survey provides novel cross-European insights into organic livestock producers' concerns. A particular value of the survey is that MED countries, which are often underrepresented, were well sampled.