Livestock farming in the European Union: supporting an ambitious transition to peasant farming
Livestock is the subject of widespread allegations regarding its responsibility for global warming. And yet authorisations for factory farms continue to be granted and there is still major confusion about the different types of livestock farming. This confusion, added to the call for people to eat "less but better meat", has not had the desired effect. It has, rather, weakened peasant farming without impacting the more industrialised farming models. In recent years, peasant livestock farming has lacked real support and so has continued to be undermined, while the destructive industrialised approach grows in strength.
There is thus an urgent need for Europe to transition to genuine social, economic and environmental sustainability. It is time to think about how we can viably move away from industrialised livestock farming models and ensure that in Europe, the number of animals reared does not exceed what each given territory is capable of sustaining, starting by how much animal feed that can produce. At the same time, farmers must also be duly remunerated for the fruits their labour.