The Cattle Network Working Group of the European Association for Animal Production carried out investigations about the CAP implementation and its impact on beef farming systems. This paper develops the links between beef production and grassland in Europe from national expertise and FADN data analysis. European beef production appears highly diverse and frequently combined with other enterprises. The EU-15 territory has been divided into 7 livestock regions on the basis of bio-geographical characteristics, land use and constraints. Widely spread over the EU territory, the beef farming systems are highly implicated in the maintenance of grasslands. Thus, the multi-functional role of grasslands in providing public goods (carbon sequestration, biodiversity etc) needs to be more clearly identified. The 2003 CAP reform was a major policy change and two-thirds of Europe's beef production is now fully decoupled. Three major economic trends are changing land use: increased demand for feedstuffs, planting of bio-energy crops, and, in some countries, the total decoupling of subsidy payments. Beef enterprises are really sensitive to competition for land, particularly in areas with mixed crops and livestock.