The European Union (EU) is the world’s second biggest producer of pigmeat and is the market’s largest exporter. In order to maintain an economically viable and sustainable pig industry, innovation is a key factor. EU PiG specifically aims to more effectively connect producers with the latest science, husbandry techniques and technologies from within their industry via fellow producers, academics and advisors connected through thematic and regional platforms. A unique consortium of 19 organisations has been brought together, representing 13 Member States that together account for 92% of the EU’s pig meat production and 89% of the EU’s pig herd in 2014. The EU PiG consortium represents a wide range of ‘actors’, including national and regional pig producer groups, researchers, rural development boards, innovation practitioners and SMEs. EU PiG will provide a platform for dialogue for the actors, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and sharing of innovative best practice.

Feed-a-Gene aims to better adapt different components of monogastric livestock production systems (i.e., pigs, poultry and rabbits) to improve the overall efficiency and to reduce the environmental impact. This involves the development of new and alternative feed resources and feed technologies, the identification and selection of robust animals that are better adapted to fluctuating conditions, and the development of feeding techniques that allow optimizing the potential of the feed and the animal. To reach this overall objective, the project will: - Develop new and alternative feeds and feed technologies to make better use of local feed resources, green biomass and by-products of the food and biofuel industry. - Develop methods for the real-time characterization of the nutritional value of feeds to better use and adapt diets to animal requirements. - Develop new traits of feed efficiency and robustness allowing identification of individual variability to select animals that are more adapted to changes in feed and environmental conditions. - Develop biological models of livestock functioning to better understand and predict nutrient and energy utilization of animals along their productive trajectory. - Develop new management systems for precision feeding and precision farming combining data and knowledge from the feed, the animal, and the environment using innovative monitoring systems, feeders, and decision support tools. - Evaluate the overall sustainability of new management systems developed by the project. - Demonstrate the innovative technologies developed by the project in collaboration with partners from the feed industry, breeding companies, equipment manufacturers, and farmers’ organisations to promote the practical implementation of project results. - Disseminate new technologies that will increase animal production efficiency, whilst maintaining product quality and animal welfare and enhance EU food security to relevant stakeholders.