{"id":2618,"date":"2020-02-04T12:42:24","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T11:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/?p=2618"},"modified":"2020-02-04T12:42:25","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T11:42:25","slug":"eu-commission-in-denial-about-europes-industrial-meat-problem-greenpeace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/nature-food\/2618\/eu-commission-in-denial-about-europes-industrial-meat-problem-greenpeace\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Commission in denial about Europe\u2019s industrial meat problem, Greenpeace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Brussels<\/strong> \u2013 A European Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2020\/02\/06e3e0cc-310120-eu-commission-farm-to-fork-presentation.pdf\">presentation<\/a> to EU national governments on the upcoming \u2018farm-to-fork\u2019 strategy denies Europe\u2019s industrial meat problem, said Greenpeace.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large  caption-style-blue-overlay caption-alignment-center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2019\/02\/1d54ce36-gp0stqmx6_web_size_with_credit_line.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1813\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2019\/02\/1d54ce36-gp0stqmx6_web_size_with_credit_line.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2019\/02\/1d54ce36-gp0stqmx6_web_size_with_credit_line-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2019\/02\/1d54ce36-gp0stqmx6_web_size_with_credit_line-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2019\/02\/1d54ce36-gp0stqmx6_web_size_with_credit_line-510x340.jpg 510w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2020\/02\/06e3e0cc-310120-eu-commission-farm-to-fork-presentation.pdf\">The presentation<\/a>, given on 31 January by the Commission\u2019s departments for agriculture, fishing and health, but notably not environment, claimed that a reduction in livestock could lead to \u201crural depopulation and biodiversity loss\u201d \u2013 claims that Greenpeace disputes.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Marco Contiero, Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director,<\/strong> said: <em>\u201cThe Commission\u2019s ongoing denial of Europe\u2019s industrial meat problem is becoming a farce. Given that two thirds of the EU\u2019s farmland is used to feed animals, a shift to less and better meat could only result in a revival of Europe\u2019s biodiversity. The current system of industrial animal and feed production, bankrolled by the EU, has come with the disappearance of millions of farms. We need extensive animal farming that works for nature and for small farmers, the current EU plans do neither.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Some<a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/nature-food\/1807\/71-eu-farmland-meat-dairy\/\"> figures<\/a> on the scale of industrial animal farming in Europe, and its impacts:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Between 2005 and 2013 the EU lost 2.9 million livestock farms, 25% of the total number of farms in Europe.<\/li><li>72% of Europe\u2019s meat comes from the largest category of farms<\/li><li>A staggering 63% of arable land is dedicated to animal feed production, mainly for industrial livestock. Overall 71% of total EU agricultural land is devoted to raising livestock.<\/li><li>This land, and other targeted subsidies for livestock, is worth between \u20ac28-\u20ac32 billion in CAP direct payments per year for the animal farming sector, 18-20% of the EU\u2019s total budget.<\/li><li>Nitrogen pollution, mainly derived from livestock manure, costs the EU up to \u20ac320 billion per year.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n<p>Studies from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/site\/assets\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ipcc_wg3_ar5_full.pdf\">IPCC<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/eatforum.org\/eat-lancet-commission\/eat-lancet-commission-summary-report\/\">EAT-Lancet Commission<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.risefoundation.eu\/images\/files\/2018\/2018_RISE_LIVESTOCK_FULL.pdf\">RISE foundation<\/a> have indicated the need to reduce the production and consumption of animal products to mitigate their climate, environmental, health and social impacts.\u00a0<br><\/p>\n\n<p>Greenpeace is calling on the EU to reduce animal farming, and to raise livestock only via ecological methods on extensive pastures, and to end factory farming reliant on industrial feed production.<br><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Contacts:<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Marco Contiero&nbsp; \u2013 Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director<\/strong>: +32 (0)47 777 7034, marco.contiero@greenpeace.org<br><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Greenpeace EU press desk<\/strong>: +32 (0)2 274 1911, pressdesk.eu@greenpeace.org<br><\/p>\n\n<p>For breaking news and comment on EU affairs: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEU\">www.twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEU<\/a>&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brussels \u2013 A European Commission presentation to national governments on the Commission\u2019s upcoming \u2018farm-to-fork\u2019 strategy denies Europe\u2019s industrial meat problem, said Greenpeace. The presentation, given on 31 January by the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[26,27],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-2618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature-food","tag-farming","tag-food","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2618"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2619,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618\/revisions\/2619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2618"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=2618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}