Organic beef production as a sustainable solution for the EU market: A case study of the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

The European Green Plan and its implementation strategies defined very demanding and ambitious goals for establishing the first "climate neutral continent" in the world. The implementation of the "Farm to Fork Strategy" (F2F) strategy will have an extremely immense effect on quantitative changes in the area of animal production (reduction in the number of animals and volume of production), increase in prices of beef and products of animal origin, the decrease in citizens' standards and increase in inflation. The appearance of the so-called "leakage effects" can be expected in NON-EU regions with the lowest population density (LU/ha), such as Serbia and the countries of the Western Balkans. At the same time, this effect represents a development opportunity for organizing extensive to semi-intensive production of organic beef based on the Cow-calf system - grass-fed beef production. In addition to the production of organic meat, these systems will contribute to improving biodiversity, maintaining the microbiological and pedological structure of the soil, regulating the carbon cycle, preventing erosion and forest fires, stopping population migration from villages to cities, reducing the use of artificial fertilizers and biocides, etc.