Profile
Asbjørn Børsting, a grad- uate of the University of Copenhagen (Agricultural Economics), served as CEO of The Agricultural Council & DLG. He is currently director of DAKOFO, the Danish Grain and Feed Association and and also chair of the Danish Bio-Economy Panel.
terns related to animal products have changed, particularly due to closures in the hotel, restaurant and catering sector in many coun- tries; this has an influence on feed production, particularly in the poultry sector.
How do you intend to contribute to the recovery of the industry in your new role? I hope that people realise that luckily we’ve able to count on those raw material imports. In the current political debate people often like to criticise the fact that we import raw agricultural ma- terials, but we would have had serious food security issues in Eu- rope if imports were cut off. Together with FEFAC’s agricultural supply chain partner organizations, FEDIOL and COCERAL, I would like to highlight the important role that trade plays in ensuring that the European livestock farming sector can thrive and provide consumers with safe, sustainable and affordable foodstuffs of ani- mal origin. Nevertheless we are aware of the political desire for a “green recovery”. I am conscious of the environmental impacts that the livestock sector has and the feed industry is committed to contributing to innovative solutions. I aim to keep FEFAC proac- tive as regards further developing the PEFCR (impact study of feed for food-producing animals) and facilitate its use by the feed sector. Linked to that are the efforts to launch the GFLI interna- tional LCA database for feed ingredients. Together, these tools are crucial assets in managing our contribution to reducing the livestock sector’s climate footprint.
Are there other challenges that the EU feed industry will face in the years ahead? As stated in our “farm to fork” strategy, the discussion on estab- lishing sustainable food systems will keep us busy for the coming years, and even after 2023. A particular challenge is the position of livestock farming in society and the consumption of animal products. The organisations that have been advocating a reduction of both of those things will only become more vocal. The communication challenge will now be taken to the policy arena. FEFAC is engaging with its livestock sector partners in the Europe- an “livestock voice” to tackle unfounded criticism. I strongly be- lieve that there are no sustainable food systems without animal agriculture.
The 2020 FEFAC Congress has been postponed until 24/25 September in Antwerp; what will be the main objective of this conference? For the main part, we will stick to our original plan, with a strong focus on sustainability. A key part is the launch of the FEFAC Feed Sustainability Charter 2030, which will provide a way for FEFAC members to make their sustainability commitments for the years ahead. We will also run a workshop on lessons to be learned from the COVID-19 crisis. The past months has laid bare our strengths and weaknesses and we can learn from both.
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