Measuring the economic sustainability of European livestock production: A participatory approach to develop policy-relevant indicators

Although livestock production is a cornerstone of European agriculture, different challenges threaten its sustainability. Established monitoring frameworks have long informed assessments of profitability but may not capture the full set of contemporary economic issues. This study aims at improving measurements of the economic sustainability of European livestock production to better align them with current policy needs. A multi-step participatory approach is proposed. First, 17 experts were interviewed, and thematic analysis was conducted to derive impact categories. Second, these categories were prioritised using an internal stakeholders survey. Third, new indicators were developed for the selected categories following different indicator development strategies. The thematic analysis identified contemporary opportunities and challenges, linked to twelve impact categories with potential for new indicators development. Challenges for further indicator development were identified. The top three impact categories ranked through the survey were compliance costs, resilience, and risk management. For compliance costs, an objective-driven approach was used to develop an indicator measuring the administrative burden associated with regulatory compliance. For resilience, a method-driven approach adapted existing resilience frameworks to livestock systems. For risk management, a data-driven approach was followed, leveraging variables available in existing monitoring systems. These indicators contribute to improving the monitoring of economic sustainability in European livestock systems and support the assessment of evolving CAP objectives.