The European Union has a large population of livestock, in 2018 there were 148 million pigs, 87 million bovine animals and 98 million sheep and goats. The EU countries are key producers and exporters of animal products such as pork, poultry, fish, beef, and eggs. The output of meat production accounted for almost 25% of the total EU agricultural output.
While the demand for animal products increases, the EU has highlighted animal health, animal wellbeing, food safety, reduced carbon and methane emissions and manure and soil management as current challenges. To tackle these challenges, Digital Innovation Hubs use technology to, amongst others, monitor pig health, ammonia emissions and track and identify cattle at any given time in order to create a more efficient and more sustainable livestock sector.
