Archived press release

MPs present meaty challenge to new Government

23 March 2010

Peter Ainsworth MP (Conservative, East Surrey) has today presented a Sustainable Livestock Bill to the House of Commons. The Bill has cross-party support and demands an ambitious new plan to reduce the environmental impact of the UK's meat and dairy consumption.

The Bill is being tabled in support of Friends of the Earth's Food Chain Campaign which will press for it to become law in the next Parliament - whichever party is in power. So far 259 MPs and more than 30,000 people around the country have backed the green campaigning charity's call for a shift to planet-friendly farming.

Friends of the Earth's campaign highlights the hidden link between the food on our plate and:

• Climate change - the meat and dairy industry is responsible for 18 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
• Deforestation - if current trends continue, farming for animal feed and cattle ranching alone will destroy 40 per cent of the Amazon rainforest by 2040.

Peter Ainsworth MP said:

"Tackling climate change has long been one of my priorities in Parliament, but the focus has so often been on energy and transport.

"It's now inescapable that every sector of our economy needs to play its part to make the emissions cuts necessary - and this Bill will help the livestock sector to do so.

"While we can continue to eat and enjoy meat and dairy, we must ensure it doesn't cost us the rainforests and cause climate chaos.

"By supporting farmers to shift from factory-farmed meat to planet-friendly farming, we can cut emissions and enjoy better meat."

Friends of the Earth's senior food campaigner Vicki Hird said:

"Factory farming is trashing the planet but this groundbreaking Bill gives us a chance to get off the intensive meat treadmill.

"Farmers, consumers and politicians want to fix the food chain and are getting behind planet-friendly food and farming - the new Government will not be able to ignore their demands.

"Instead of funding factory farming, the new Government must support farmers to graze animals and feed them home-grown diets."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1. For more information on the environmental and social impacts of the meat and dairy industry please see: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/livestock_impacts.pdf
2. The Sustainability of Livestock Farming and Food Production (Strategy) Bill would require the Government to deliver a strategy in two years which will significantly reduce the global and domestic impact of the UK livestock production and consumption. It must cover:
- the use of financial levers like subsidies, grants, taxes and tax breaks - many of which currently prop up the wrong sort of farming but which could be used to support sustainable farming systems and home grown feeds;
- the public procurement of food for schools and hospitals - using the £2.2 billion food procurement budget to specify the best food and drive up standards;
- the use of public information campaigns to encourage or discourage consumer behaviour;
- positions taken in the European Union and other international fora on policies which affect the production and consumption of livestock products and feeds;
- public support for research and development in agriculture which supports extensive farming and home grown feeds.
3. The Bill is supported by: John Gummer and David Amess (Conservative), Alan Simpson and Nick Palmer (Labour) and Andrew George Liberal Democrat)
4. Friends of the Earth's 2009 Early Day Motion 845, outlining the need for action to reduce the impact of livestock production, was supported by 259 MPs.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust