Environmental protection is one of the key problems in the process of accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union. That refers to agricultural production and livestock production which can be large source of environmental pollution. To prevent that, the EU Nitrates Directive must be implemented in Serbia in the following period. However, the Nitrates Directive implementation is related to numerous organizational and financial problems, especially at family farms with activity in livestock production. In this chapter, the authors presented characteristics of livestock production in the Republic of Serbia (cattle number, number of family farms, characteristics of housing capacities for animals and facilities for manure and slurry storage). The authors presented ways in which manure is stored, as well as the potentials of biogas production. Also, they presented models of livestock production financing, including subsidized credits for agriculture, which can facilitate the implementation of the Nitrates Directive at farms.
EU Nitrates Directive, from theory to practice: Environmental effectiveness and influence of regional governance on its performance