Scenarios are descriptions of a future possible course of events or actions.

They are a powerful tool to support decision-making and planning and are a means to enhance dialogue with stakeholders.

Global market, technological, biotechnological, animal welfare, management, political, economical, legal and societal developments may force animal production systems to change. In order to be able to consider new evolutions with care, and to have future pathways for discussion, three scenarios are worked out in this section.

Partly they represent an extrapolation of today’s reality into the future as, currently, diversification of breeding is already part of the reality in Europe. Different organisations, different countries or different farming systems work with their own breeding goals. Several models can be applied in one country or within one organisation, each serving part of the market. The drive behind the differentiation is historically determined, following market demands and/or motivation comes from pressure for animal welfare and other societal demands.