Mixed farming or factory farming?

Efficient farming or factory farming? In the last 12 months, several proposals to create ‘super dairies’ or ‘super piggeries’ have hit the headlines. It’s creating a stir in both the farming community and the general public. A recent Farmers Weekly poll showed a clear 50:50 split between those that support scaling up and those that don’t – and various campaign groups are starting to shout about it to the wider public.

The issue is being debated in Parliament too. The Sustainable Livestock Bill, backed by Friends of the Earth and a cross party of MPs, will ask the Government to implement a strategy that will improve the sustainability of livestock farming and consumption of livestock produce. The Bill suggests the need for regulatory levers such as taxes and subsidies to improve the sustainability of meat consumption and livestock farming, rather than the voluntary approach currently adopted by Government.

Incidentally this message clearly reflects the sentiment of the Committee on Climate Change in its recent assessment of the agricultural sectors progress towards the next carbon budget (2018-2022). However, it does come at a time when the Government is adopting a very clear stance on cutting red tape not making more of it!

This call for Government intervention in the food system comes at a time when there is growing frustration over the monopoly multinational corporate giants now hold over the food system. At Compassion in World Farming’s lecture 'Beef, Bread & Water: Ethical food in a warm and thirsty world’ on Monday night Dr. Samuel Jutzi from the FAO agreed that the lobbying tactics of these organisations made any change to the current system very difficult to affect.

The facts and figures are powerful. Ninety nine per cent of a cow’s water footprint comes from the feed it eats, but we’re going to have less and less water and land to support this water footprint in the future. So solving these issues looks like it is going to require political muscle.

Those on the side of scaling up argue that bigger systems mean greater efficiency, which means a lower carbon footprint – good news for climate change, surely. But such systems bring with them a wave of challenges ranging from animal health and welfare to agricultural employment. 

The message from the lecture on Monday night was clear – mixed farming was a better alternative. On many grounds this is true, apart from the one which currently counts most – economics. Given the powerlessness of those seeking an alternative to a corporately run food system, Government intervention looks like the only choice. So despite a cull of red tape, for many, pushing for further Government intervention in the food system may not be as bad an idea as it originally sounds...

Jules Hayward is a Masters scholar at Forum for the Future. She is currently taking a placement at Friends of the Earth.