The sheep and goat farming sector is on a declining trajectory, both in terms of livestock numbers and the number of farming operations. Greece mainly produces light carcasses (<13 kg), which primarily meet the demand during festive periods. The remaining demand is largely covered by imports of “heavy” carcasses. The mismatch between supply and demand is driven by the lack of specialized breeding knowledge among Greek farmers, which discourages them from engaging systematically in meat-oriented sheep and goat farming. Additionally, buyers—especially professionals in the food service industry—are hesitant to trust Greek carcasses due to their significant quality variability. At the same time, under the current economic model, farmers rely excessively on income from milk sales, which are continuously shrinking due to the declining milk prices.

The Operational Group (OG) primarily aims to increase farmers' income by entering new markets and, secondarily, to reduce imports of "heavy" carcasses by utilizing systems:

• of carcass evaluation
• of benchmarking of Greek and foreign breeds
• of standardised production of cuts of sheepmeat and goatmeat
• of traceability

as the demands of high-quality international meat markets focus on compliance with standards, consistent quality and quantity, information on animal welfare, proper logistics management (timing and transport conditions), and traceability.