Philip Lymbery said that about 10,000 years ago human beings changed from being hunter-gatherers into settlers relying on agriculture. Then, a generation ago, mankind tore up its contract with the soil, and with natural farming, and turned to factory agriculture. The results were, with a world population of 7.8 billion, 80 billion farm animals were raised per year: 2/3 on factory farms. The livestock sector produced 14.5 % of GHG, more than all the exhaust fumes from the world’s planes, trains and cars. Agriculture occupied half the world’s habitable land. 83% was dedicated to animal production, providing humanity with just 37% of its protein and 18% of its calories. The food system produced enough for 17.5 billion people, but nearly 2/3 of EU cereals were used as animal feed. We were exceeding planetary boundaries. The two sides of factory farming were cages for animals, and arable land used to produce their feed in monocultures. This was based on chemicals(fertilisers and pesticides) with great damage to the natural world and biodiversity. The system also distorted economics: farm subsidies cost $700 billion per year worldwide, 50 billion euros per year in the EU (40% of EU budget), and £3+billion per year in the UK. The main beneficiaries were the global meat industry and the companies producing fertilisers, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and grain. The EU was leading the way in pushing back.
The Commission’s Green Deal in 2019 described climate change and environmental degradation as an existential threat to Europe and the world. The EU Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies set challenging targets for 2030. The way forward was the 3 Rs: regeneration, rewilding and rethinking protein: restore animals to the land, regenerate soil fertility, reduce pollution and conserve water. Rethinking protein focussed on plant-based alternatives, cultured meat, fermentation, precision fermentation. These would progressively undermine the (distorted) economics of factory farming, and ensure that the industrial model had nowhere to go.Tim Lang addressed the EU-UK political economy of food. The parting of the way had begun, but not as much as London liked to think: and the EU still provided 1/3 of UK food. Neither the UK nor EU were current food policy successes: over-production, ultra-processed diets, diet ill health, low wage food economies. UK was fragmenting food policy: with Scotland, Wales and NI ploughing their own furrows; while the EU was integrating food policy across the food system (Green Deal, Farm to Fork – a big shift to consumers and the environment). The UK had uncertain agri-food vision ahead, whereas the EU was slowly developing. Both the UK and the EU shared problems which required collaboration (health, environment, trade, food quality, inter-sectoral policy processes):bad relations were a danger. There were 9 new objectives of a future CAP: fair income to farmers, increase competitiveness, rebalance power in the food chain, climate change action, environmental care, preserve landscapes and biodiversity, support generational renewal, vibrant rural area, protect food and health policy. Meanwhile all member states were slow to shift consumption, with a mixture of progress and retreat on sustainable diets. The Hot Springs Conference in 1943, which created the FAO, was an example of ambition in the past. 2021 was a key year for framing food (or not): July G7 in UK, September UN food Systems Summit, October COP 15 Conventional on Biodiversity, November COP 26 UN Framework Convention n Climate.
Questions
covered the CAP (and possible UK policies outside the EU); subsidies;
the growing influence of green parties; food-systems, and whether these
were consumer-led; plant- based food as monocultures; animal welfare;
and the action by the NFU against Blue Peter.
Sir David Madden (Distinguished Friend of St Antony's)
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