by We are currently facing a triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
To solve these crises and ensure a healthy future for people, nature, animals and our planet, global agricultural reforms are necessary and inevitable.
The way we produce food will shape our very existence on this planet. What is needed is a sustainable and resilient food system — of the kind set out in the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy — that delivers healthy food in a way that supports decent livelihoods for farmers and thriving rural communities.
It must also reduce emissions, and protect the environment and biodiversity, as well as animal welfare. Business as usual is not an option because our current way of life is coming to an end.
One thing is certain: our current food system is not working for farmers. No wonder they have taken to the streets across Europe to protest.
Trapped by a system that has failed everyone
Farmers are trapped in an unfair system that has failed them, society, animals, nature and our planet.
They struggle to make a living due to low profit margins, competition from larger industrial farms, rising energy costs, and more extreme weather, which is ironically exacerbated by intensive farming practices.
Meanwhile, in this same system billions of farmed animals are confined in intensive systems that are extremely cruel and kill our planet.
The wider food sector, including retailers, as well as a handful of “big” multinational companies that have announced larger profits in recent years are the real beneficiaries of the current food system.
Significant changes are inevitable and we will all play a role in this transformation towards a more nature-positive food system.
People are paying for the cost of the damage
Most small scale farmers are not afraid of green reforms or animal welfare. Large industrial farms are responsible for most of the adverse environmental and animal welfare consequences.
They pollute our air and waterways, increase the risk of disease that affects human health, rob land of life, waste valuable natural resources, and kill wildlife through chemical use and habitat loss .
But our current system forces the public to pay the costs of mitigating this damage rather than charging the companies responsible.
Instead of supporting this broken system, farmers and their representative bodies should align with animal welfare and environmental campaigns.
Improving animal welfare and adopting regenerative practices will bring many positive benefits to both farmers and supply chain workers, increasing their job satisfaction and economic stability.
Together, we can create change that creates better and more sustainable livelihoods for farmers as well as a healthier future for us all.
There is a way to solve all of this
In the case of the EU’s promised ban on cases, we are supporting the provision of financial support to farmers to make this transition by redirecting subsidies.
Public funds should be made available to help with the capital costs of transitioning to non-cage systems and banks should be encouraged to provide favorable finance to farmers transitioning to high-interest systems.
Tax breaks should be given to farmers who adopt high environmental and animal welfare standards to provide appropriate incentives for changes that benefit society as a whole.
We urgently need to explore how our public and economic systems can be restructured so that we can provide farmers with a good livelihood, fairer and healthier diets for all, and a resurgent, disproportionately large livestock sector present.
Market incentives are needed to ensure public and private investment and governments shift subsidies towards more diverse protein systems.
Instead of spending public funds on harmful systems, financial mechanisms such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) need to be reformed so that funds can be redirected to help farmers make a fair transition to sustainable and nature-positive farming practices.
It makes no sense that only 20% of the CAP beneficiaries receive 80% of the funds, and it is clear that small farmers benefit “at large” for small scale farmers.
The threat we face is an existential threat
Creating a level playing field is also essential. As well as adopting the EU’s high welfare and environmental standards, we must ensure that the same high standards apply equally to imported goods in ways that are consistent with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
Seeing farmers undercut by cheap imports produced to poor standards would be a slap in the face not only to farmers but to EU citizens — 84% of whom want better protection of farm animal welfare.
The threat we face right now is real. Our own health, the health of animals, nature and our planet are so intertwined that they must be considered together in the solutions we take.
The sooner we start a balanced transition towards a sustainable, resilient and inclusive food system that fully respects the interests of all three, the better it will be for farmers too.
Debbie Tripley is Global Director of Campaigns and Policy at Compassion in World Farming.
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