Stephen Williams Supports Campaign For Planet-Friendly Farming
June 2, 2010 4:39 PM
Stephen Williams Supports Campaign For Planet-Friendly Farming
On Thursday 27th May Stephen Williams MP met with representatives of Friends of the Earth to show his support for rainforest-free meat and dairy produce. This is the latest effort in the charity's long-running 'Fix the Food Chain' campaign, which is striving to reduce the impact of intensive factory farming, which is wiping out rainforests and wildlife to grow animal feed.
This latest campaign calls for farm animals to be born, bred and fed British, instead of being reared on imported animal feed grown on deforested land. The campaign is also calling on Government Ministers to reverse the long-term decline in small farms, which is resulting in a loss of 4,000 jobs from farming every year and to tackle the role of large corporations, particularly supermarkets, in driving intensive farming through low prices paid to farmers.
Commenting on this campaign Stephen Williams MP said:
"Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a rainforest-free lunch if you're eating meat and dairy, yet it is possible to farm animals without harming the planet. I am very pleased to back Friends of the Earth's call for policies that will help farmers to rear animals that are born, bred and fed British."
Friends of the Earth's Senior Food Campaigner Vicki Hird said:
"It's great that MPs like Stephen Williams are waking up to the impact of factory farming and supporting the switch to planet-friendly meat and dairy farming. Friends of the Earth is campaigning for a new law that will cut the meat and dairy industry's impact and will support farmers and consumers to make greener choices."
In the last session of Parliament, Stephen Williams signed Early Day Motion 194 on this matter, which states:
"That this House notes that global livestock and animal feed production contributes 18 per cent. of global greenhouse gas emissions and is currently the most significant driver of biodiversity loss worldwide; further notes that the large-scale conversion of forests and other valuable habitats into croplands for the production of animal feeds such as soy for intensive livestock farming is a cause of particular concern; recognises the associated impacts on small farmers and communities in developing countries who are often forced off their land; urges the Government to undertake an assessment of the scale and impact of this trend and the UK's role in it, and to gauge whether the UK's livestock industry has become overly dependent on soy-based animal feed which has such an unwelcome and unsustainable impact upon the environment; and calls on the Government to bring forward the measures necessary to reduce the UK's impact on global greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss from the livestock sector whilst avoiding the export of these impacts overseas and supporting a viable, sustainable and thriving UK farming industry."
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