LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY UNDER SIEGE

Storm in a tea cup?

by:Heinz H. Meissner

IN THE NEWS• In New Zealand, livestock farming is responsible for nearly 90

percent of the methane and nitrous oxide produced in the country.

• Even in the highly industrialized United Kingdom, ruminants are responsible for twenty-five percent of the country’s methane emissions.

• A 2006 study, Livestock’s Long Shadow, claimed meat production was responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions – more than transport.  Its conclusions were heralded by campaigners urging consumers to eat less meat to save the planet. (FAO report)

• “Cow tax" could cost South Dakota farmers an estimated $367 million -- or $175 per dairy cow, $87.50 per beef cow, and $20 per hog -- fees that could put already struggling family farms on the brink of closure.

Before I say yes to a date... Tell me, do you contribute to global warming very often?

SUGGESTED RESEARCH ….

• It sounds like a woolly idea, but Australian sheep are to be fitted with gas masks to find out how much they are affecting the climate.

• Researchers will fit the masks over the sheep for a short time to obtain a reading from their breath so it can be established how much methane gas they are emitting.

• 'Operation Gas Mask' will soon swing into action following a report by Australian climate adviser Ross Garnaut who said sheep helped create greenhouse gases and it would be better if farmers turned to kangaroos as a source of meat.

PERCEIVED NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF LIVESTOCK

• Environmental• Pollution• Carbon and water footprint

• Animal welfare• Intensive systems (“Animal factories”)• Slaughter procedures

• Human health• Antibiotics and hormone residues• Zoonosis• Coronary heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity etc.

ACTIVIST ORGANISATIONS

• Compassion in World Farming

• Planet Green.com

• Animal Aid

COMPASSION IN WORLD FARMING

• What we do

• We campaign to end cruel factory farming. These systems impose mindless suffering on billions of farm animals reared for food around the world. Farm animal welfare and wellbeing is at the heart of all we do and all we do is founded on scientific fact

COMPASSION IN WORLD FARMING: The farm animal welfare• Founded over 40 years ago in 1967 • By a British farmer who became horrified by the development of modern, intensive

factory farming• Campaign peacefully to end all cruel factory farming practices.• So far achieved:• Undercover investigations

• Exposed the reality of modern intensive farming systems• Brought farm animals plight to the attention of the media

• Political lobbying and campaigning resulted in the EU recognising animals as sentient beings, capable of feeling pain and suffering. • Secured landmark agreements to outlaw the barren battery cage for egg-laying hens,

narrow veal crates and sow stalls across Europe• Good Farm Animal Welfare

• Good Egg Award winners’ policies• “Good Chicken” Award winners’ policies• Winners so far include Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury's, McDonald’s, Unilever

(including Hellmann’s mayonnaise in the UK) and the National Trust

HELP THE PLANET• By making a simple change in the way you eat, you are taking part in a world

changing campaign where what’s good for you is also good for the planet.

Making a political statementPoliticians follow. They don’t lead. And because of meat’s association with affluence and the fear that asking people to eat less meat might make them unpopular, most politicians shy away form this issue. Unlike oil, the price of meat has remained relatively stable for many years. It is unlikely, due to the heavy subsidies given to livestock farmers, that big price rises will force consumers into eating less – in the way that they have been used to prod us into driving less. So the best hope for change lies in average people becoming more aware of the true costs of industrial meat production and taking action themselves.

Better HealthMost of us eat more meat and other protein rich foods than we need to stay healthy. In 2007 the World Cancer Research Fund report recommended limiting the consumption of red meats such as beef, pork ad lamb because of a ‘convincing’ link with colorectal cancer. Links have also been found between high meat diets and obesity and heart disease.Remember also that climate change is a threat to our future health. As the world warms up it is likely that levels of air pollution, and thus allergies and respiratory diseases, will rise, as will the rate of infectious diseases.

Protecting animal rightsAccording to the Worldwatch Institute, globally some 56 billion animals are raised and slaughtered for food each year. Of these 67 per cent are grown on industrial ‘factory’ farms. Factory farms are sources of cruelty and waste on scales unimaginable to most of us. These facilities rely on commercial breeds of animals that gain weight quickly on unnatural diets of high-protein feeds. Here animals live in  crowded, stressful and often unhygienic conditions. Cattle in such farms often stand knee-high in their own waste.Under such conditions, animals are kept ‘healthy’ with regular doses of antibiotics …

Alleviating world hungerMeat producers are hoping to double the global production of meat by 2050. But this is not inevitable – or desirable. Animals convert plant protein and energy into meat protein and energy inefficiently; it takes 8 kg of grain, for instance, to produce 1kg of beef. This means that anyone who consumes large amounts of meat – pretty much the whole of the industrialised world – may be consuming a disproportionate amounts of the world’s available nutrients.Currently some 800 million people on the planet now suffer from hunger or malnutrition, while the majority of corn and soya grown in the world – which could be feeding them, goes to feed cattle, pigs and chickens. By some estimates 20 vegetarians can be fed on the amount of land needed to feed one person consuming a meat-based diet.

JOIN PAUL McCARTNEY

THE MEAT CRISIS

'Anyone who likes to eat and is concerned about the planet should read this visionary book.'Lester R. Brown, President, Earth Policy Institute and author of Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization

'This book makes both enthralling and chilling reading. When you put it down, you will be in no doubt as to why factory farming is so unsustainable, not just for the animals, but for the health and survival of both humanity and the planet.'Philip Lymbery, Chief Executive, Compassion in World Farming

• The book is certainly timely as the effects of climate change on the global environment are beginning to show. It is written by well-respected authors in their spheres of expertise and therefore the message, whilst it is sometimes controversial - even alarming, is to be taken seriously by governments, scientists and livestock farmers, if we were to ensure sustainability for future generations.

• The book consists of 5 parts:• The impacts of Animal Farming on the

Environment• Farming Practices and Animal Welfare• The Implications of Meat Production for Human

Health• Ethical and Religious Approaches to Animal

Foods• Devising Farming and Food Policies for a

Sustainable Future

CONCLUSION: This is NOT a storm in a tea cup!

WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

•TAKE NOTE

•GET OWN HOUSE IN ORDER• Animal welfare (bunk space, comfort zone, transport)

• Pollution

• Methane (mitigation measures, utilization)

COUNTERACTING/PRO-ACTIVE MEASURES BY MIF• Regular talks and

Information sessions/articles

• Scientific approach:• PROJECT: The socio-

economic andenvironmental impact of livestock agriculture in South Africa: A scientific assessment