Environmental impacts and future challenges of livestock sector in Hungary

In developed countries, livestock farming faces significant global challenges, including adverse environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and pollution from industrial animal husbandry. These negative processes were accompanied by the disappearance of livestock breeding from backyards and small farms’ demise in recent decades. As a result, the sector’s significance in rural communities has decreased, causing challenges for rural development. This research investigates these processes on the example of the Hungarian livestock sector from the 1990s to recent years, with statistical and policy document analysis, literature review, and interviews in Hungary’s Southern Great Plain. The results show that the number of animals kept in rural settlements has decreased significantly in the last three decades. The established large-scale industrial animal husbandry is a negative environmental burden without positive externalities. In conclusion, the disappearance of the backyard and small-scale livestock farms from the Hungarian countryside has resulted in the loss of multifunctionality and social exclusion. A diversified farming system and a more balanced policy preference toward civic agriculture and small-scale animal husbandry can bring many environmental, economic, and social benefits to rural Hungary.