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Intensive production? This cow needs grass
Trust the Greens on animal rights
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Too much milk and meat protein is grown on concrete. It is natural to see cows grazing in fields. But in intensive beef and milk production, animals are cooped up in concrete stables the whole year round and fed on maize silage and compound power feed. They are fed and then milked till they drop. Farmers feel forced into this situation as milk prices decreases. At the same time cheese producers complain that milk from intensive production is no longer good enough for quality cheese. Salmon are increasingly raised in sea cages under similar conditions.
EU transfers for farmers and farming investments must now respect environmental and animal welfare standards. Meat and bone meal has been banned for ruminants and compound feed has to be fully labelled. These are major Greens achievements.
In order to promote more sustainable farming methods – especially in less favoured areas – we must phase out subsidies for intensive animal husbandry (i.e. that based on corn silage) and replace them with premiums for extensive and environmentally friendly grassland pasture. Financial support for factory farming methods, including caged hens and intensive poultry, must disappear. And we should withhold support for farm investments that do not increase animal welfare.
We need to preserve the diversity of our food and plants
More and more agribusiness multinationals and food designers determine what is on our plate. This means a cultural and genetic impoverishment of our gardening, farming and eating habits. We can prevent this by better laws but also by simply changing our ways of consumption. (pdf)
A publication on the occasion of the World Food Summit "five years later"
The 1996 World Food Summit pledged to reduce the number of hungry people by half by 2015. To reach this goal a mere increase in the volume of food produced is not enough. More focus on rural areas, home of 70 per cent of the world’s poor people, is needed, as this detailed publication shows. (pdf)
New agricultural policy should build on precautionary consumer protection
Once again the BSE crisis has called the Euroepan Agricultural Policy into question. A complete reversal is needed, so that quality of food, environment protection and sustainable development of rural areas become the core objectives. (pdf)
What kind of agriculture policy do the Greens promote? - A strategy paper
At the moment international agriculture policies are dominated by trade concerns. Instead, we need a new regional approach which focuses on farming and food security as well as social policies. WTO trade agreements should not undermine national legislation in these fields.
