Background The animal production sector forms an important part of Europe’s (agricultural) economy and plays an essential role in the provision of Europe`s citizens with high quality animal products. Like other agricultural sectors, animal production faces many challenges from projected increases in global demand for food, climate change, competition for natural resources and economic volatility. The European animal production landscape is very complex, consisting of different species farmed within a wide range of different extensive, semi-intensive and intensive production systems using multiple resources to produce a diverse range of animal products and other services. Partners in this ERA-NET believe, however, that these challenges and complexities can be effectively addressed through joint European research within a framework which supports the three pillars of sustainability - economy, environment and society - and targets opportunities for innovative research spanning all areas of animal production such as health and welfare, feeding and nutrition, reproduction, breeding and genetics, housing, nutrient management and economics. Partners in ERA-NET SusAn endorse scientific excellence and recommend an integrated, interdisciplinary, cross-cutting and multi-actor approach to research and knowledge exchange which reflects the complexity of the research requirements for sustainable European animal production. Goals As a first goal, the funding organisations that are member of the SusAn ERA-NET intend to pool together funds for a transnational call for research projects. This call aims to increase international collaboration between research groups in the area of sustainable animal production, in order to speed up research and to reduce overlap. The EU Horizon 2020 programme will provide extra funding for this first call. A second goal of the ERA-NET is to develop a Common Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda on Sustainable Animal Production, which will define research priorities for animal production within the foreseeable future. Besides these two main goals, the SusAn ERA-NET will organise a variety of other joint activities (e.g., calls, networking events, ...), all with the goal of promoting research on sustainable animal production, crossing boundaries of countries and regions within and outside the EU. Coordination team The ERA-NET is being coordinated by the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), Unit 315 – European Research Affairs, Deichmanns Aue 29, 53179 Bonn, Germany. Coordinator: Elke Saggau, elke.saggau@ble.de, phone +49 (0) 228-6845-3930 Main Project Manager: Babette Breuer, babette.breuer@ble.de, phone +49 (0) 228-6845-2925 Project Manager: Arnd Bassler, arnd.bassler@ble.de, phone +49 (0) 228-6845-3506 Main Project Administrator: Kerstin Salvatori, kerstin.salvatori@ble.de, phone +49 (0) 228-6845-3519 Project Administrator: Annette Zimmermann, Annette.zimmermann@.ble.de, phone +49 (0) 228-6845-3735 Consortium The SusAn ERA-NET consortium consists of 37 partner organisations from 21 EU Member States and 2 EU Associated Countries.