Strengthening the comprehensive competitiveness of Finnish animal production

Aims
The aims of our study are to strengthen the competitiveness of Finnish animal production by producing comparative information of production methods and particularly environmental performance in relation to countries that exports or imports livestock products with Finland. We will identify the exploitation potential of the Finnish production methods and environmental performance, and the economic constraints, and the most important means to maintain and improve the competitiveness of Finnish animal production.

Outputs
1. Comparative country analyses
2. Environmental effects, resource efficiency and holistic sustainability in Finland and in comparative countries
3. Analysis of economic constraints and competitive factors related to environmental performance
4. The exploitation potential of the environmental performance and holistic sustainability of Finnish animal production

This project will be conducted in co-coperation with the Natural Resources Institute Finland and Ruokatieto Ry. The University of Helsinki will be involved in workpackages that study the state of environment and compare environmental load of the agriculture and the livestock production in Finland to other European countries. We will pay special attention to greenhouse gas emissions, eutrophicaction, acidification and ecotoxicity. In addition, we will study effects of agriculture and livestock production on biodiversity, land use and water and energy consumption.

Targert groups: agricultural enterprises, food industry, consumers, politicians