INSTITUTIONAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR BEEF PRODUCTION AND MARKETING IN LATVIA

Abstract

Beef cattle production is one of the important agricultural industries in rural areas, providing jobs and revenues for farmers as well as being part of the food system. Animal welfare requirements and various international and regional legal requirements need to be met to engage in beef production and trade. Therefore, the beef industry faces challenges posed by the Farm to Fork Strategy of the European Green Deal. The Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan of Latvia for 2023-2027 envisages a number of support measures to increase farm competitiveness and promote beef products in the market, develop agricultural processing and create a higher value added, focusing on organic farming and the preservation of permanent grassland areas, thereby increasing beef herd productivity and farm revenues. In the long term, however, there are significant risks to beef production and trade, as the introduction of high animal welfare standards of the European Union (EU) makes beef production more expensive, and the beef cannot compete with beef imports from third countries in terms of price. Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both the costs of agricultural inputs and price fluctuations have increased, and the instability of the geopolitical situation has some influence as well. Price, and not quality, could become the key factor in the buyer’s choice in the market. Because of the constrained buying power of consumers and the rising costs of agricultural inputs, EU legal acts, incl. import procedures and support policies, should be amended to ensure a high quality of beef products. The present research aims to analyse the regulatory and institutional framework for beef cattle production and trade in Latvia. As at 1 July 2023, according to data from the Agricultural Data Centre, 394520 cattle were registered in Latvia; 14023 farms produced beef and dairy cattle, of which 1943 were organic farms with 86555 cattle, incl. 45931 beef cattle.