Protein plants and the animals and humans that eat them are in the news this week, as the European Commission and a range of farming and environmental NGOs publish reports and opinions on the matter. A number of organisations reacted positively, but with caveats. So what were the concerns? […]
The starkness of the IPCC’s most recent climate change warnings – of 12 year window before runaway impacts – has focused the minds of many. What role – if any – for livestock in this brave new herd? […]
‘Farm land could work as carbon sinks,’ said Dr Jan Mumme, an agricultural engineer at the University of Edinburgh in the UK. ‘This probably wouldn’t work with intensive livestock farming, but sustainable crop production and integrated farm systems (a balance between crops and livestock) could do it – and biochar is one way to help.’ […]
Here we summarise and provide links to all eight contributions to the soil matters article series. From soil and the city to no till, humus and technical articles from soil scientists, there is much in here to cause wonder, controversy and, it is hoped, greater understanding. […]
Country girl becomes city girl with a background in climate change and environmental activism – and then becomes a cattle farmer? How did that happen? Meet Sineád from Mayo…… […]
Interested in reducing the GHG emissions from producing our food? Better nutrition and health and lower healthcare costs? Reducing the pollution from our food production systems? Then read what Stuart Miekle has to say about how a soil focused farming benefits these and other aspects of society. […]
“A sustainable food system is not about reducing animal-product consumption so to ‘free-up’ land for direct-for-human-food plants: rather, it is about using the land now used for feeds for shipping to animals confined elsewhere, for grazing livestock – be they ruminants, pigs or poultry.” Stuart Meikle outlines his position. […]
The role of farming in climate change mitigation is controversial and fraught. The UN COP (Conference of Parties) Climate Change has tentatively introduced soil and carbon sequestration into its workings, via 4 pour 1000. However the role of particular agronomic practices involving livestock is under special scrutiny. Does livestock release more than it sequesters, or does the farming model matter? What about deep carbon storage? And how will policy makers work with new research and 4p1000? […]
‘Grass-fed’ is now widely used across the global market place for bovine products. It is loosely defined and can mean anything from 51% of the animal’s diet coming from grazed grass and forages to 100% fed on grass. ‘Grass-fed’ is now so common place that one must ask whether it retains any great value as product differentiation. Has ‘grass-fed’ seen its day? And how should sustainable food move forward? […]
Changes over to 40%, 60% and even 100% organic farming can feed the world. Interestingly, this is only possible if we also do two things we’re supposed to do anyway. So what are these two crucial components of a truly sustainable diet, which would need to accompany organic farming? […]
A recent report for Eating Better points out that future policies towards livestock farming and trade in the UK and EU should support a shift to healthy sustainable diets. More coherent approaches to environmental objectives such as climate change, protecting nature and high animal welfare should be developed. […]
Livestock plays a central role in the CAP, but there are numerous areas of concern. While the public are interested in better animal welfare standards, policies lead to overproduction of grain and an abundance of cheap livestock products with all the sustainability issues this carries. […]
By Shefali Sharma, European Director IATP, 12.07.2016 The Institute for Trade Policy’s European Office, along with international group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), German member of Via Campesina—Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft e.V. (AbL) and PowerShift launched their new report Selling Off the Farm: Corporate Meat’s Takeover through TTIP with a panel discussion and a press briefing at the European Parliament on the 12th July. Some key findings from the report: Many new agricultural and food technologies are being developed or already utilized with limited or no regulation. TTIP will make rulemaking in the public interest much more difficult in the future for technologies such as gene editing and cloning. Labour and environmental regulations related to the meat industry are inadequate on both sides of the Atlantic and need to be strengthened. Trade unions and environmental campaigns have achieved incremental gains; however, TTIP is likely to make it difficult to improve regulations. The chilling effect of TTIP’s (de)regulatory cooperation provisions will make it increasingly challenging in the future to effectively regulate impacts of the meat industry on climate change […]
In this series, our authors and readers have approached the livestock debate from many perspectives – climate, animal ethics, economic and more. So what have we learned? […]
IATP’s Ben Lilliston exposes the vulnerability of big meat – from mass gassings and manure lagoons to climate change and human rights. Part of our #LivestockDebate Series. […]
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