11/26/2008 11:43:00 AM Agriculture takes another hit Report claims big farming is ‘Eating our Future’
A report out this month attacks factory farming head on, but it also implies farming and ranching in general is negatively impacting the future of people across the globe – eating up our future.
From News Reports
It is just one more wave to add to the rising tide that has been threatening agricultural production systems. Freshly released, "Eating our Future: The environmental impact of industrial animal agriculture" is a look at how meat and milk production is set to double by 2050 and the supposed negative effects it will have on the world.
World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) report details how current agricultural practices in the U.S. and elsewhere contribute to the environmental, economic and social crises faced by developed and developing countries alike, and makes a call for shifting to humane and sustainable models of production.
In 2006, Livestock's Long Shadow, a report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization noted that, at current rates of increase, meat and milk production double. This study examines the impact of this growth, and highlights the urgent need to challenge and restrain the expansion of that production and reverse it as soon as possible.
"Current trends in animal production are literally unsustainable. The hidden cost of factory farms is far greater than the planet can afford," says Dr. Michael Appleby, author of the report. "Apart from the needless suffering imposed on billions of factory farmed animals, industrial animal agriculture also makes a major contribution to climate change, to the scarcity of resources and instability of markets, and to other global problems such as poverty and disease. Because of the increasing numbers we keep, the resources we use for them and their impact on the environment, farm animals are eating our future."
In his foreword to Eating our Future, Dr. R. K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, suggests two ways to arrest the trend of increasing meat consumption - to create adequate awareness among the public on the benefits of lower meat consumption and secondly to place a price on carbon.
With this report, WSPA is calling on intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations, national governments and food supply industries to take several actions, including developing policies for a sustainable food supply and animal welfare. To read the full report visit:
