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Published 30/01/2015
We're not alone in our vision for better food and farming – leading thinkers and change-makers support our vision.
These people come from diverse backgrounds – from the arts and media to civil society, faith and ethics, sport, business and academia – but are united in their desire to kick-start a food and farming revolution.
This year, several major EU and global agreements are being finalised. 75 of our Visionaries signed this letter to the Times newspaper, published in edited form today, to highlight the urgent need for the problem of industrial livestock production to be considered in the international goals, agreements and plans being drawn up this year.
Here is that letter in full:
Sir,
The Leader in 28th January 2015 Times “Eat Less Meat” comes at a critical point in the debate about food and farming.
Crucial negotiations on global climate, food and development policy are taking place over the next few months. The results will have a huge impact on all our lives and on the future wellbeing of our planet. There is good news, bad news and potential for real reform.
The bad news is that the European Commission has failed to deliver its promised Communication on Sustainable Food. This should have mapped out a new vision for European and global food policy and addressed the current high level of meat consumption in certain populations, and the industrial farming model that this has generated. While excess nutrition is today killing more people than hunger, intensive animal agriculture uses a third of the world’s human edible grain. The big question – which needs to be answered - is why has the Communication been dropped?
The Sustainable Development Goals, which will set the future direction for global development, are being finalised right now. We believe it is vital that the agricultural goals are based on humane ecological principles. We already produce more than enough to feed the 9.6 billion people expected to be alive in 2050 yet much farming policy is still driven by the erroneous assumption that we need to produce more.
Instead of pursuing production at any cost, global farming policy should focus on producing food for a balanced diet for all and achieving improved livelihoods for the poorest small-scale farmers.
Industrial livestock systems must be avoided as these involve low quality lives for millions of sentient animals and pollute water, harm soils, reduce biodiversity and are one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. With global climate talks working towards a potential climax in Paris at the end of 2015, it is vital that the emissions from livestock production and its associated deforestation are factored in.
We call on the European Commission to reinstate the stalled Sustainable Food Communication and to place the problems of industrial animal agriculture at the heart of the Communication. These problems must also be recognised in the global negotiations on sustainable development and climate change mitigation.
Joyce D’Silva – Compassion in World Farming
Dr Jane Goodall DBE
Joanna Lumley OBE
Prof Peter Singer AC
Jonathon Porritt CBE
Dr Jonathan Balcombe
Gordon Roddick
Peter Egan
Peter Kindersley
Tony Juniper
Prof Mark Post
Prof Robert Lawrence
Prof Paulo Borges
Prof Kurt Remele
Prof Dave Goulson
Prof Jan Willem Erisman
Prof William Greenway
Prof M S Swaminathan PS
Geoff Tansey
Prof Elizabeth Stuart
Prof Joy Carter
Fazlun Khalid
Annemiek Canjels
Dr Carola Strassner
Norma Alvares PS
Prof Ben Mepham
Prof Marita Candela
Dr Alex Richardson
Zhang Dan
Nithi Nesadurai
Rebecca Miller
Dr Brian Hare
Dr David Suzuki
Frantzis Alexandros
Sir David Madden
Timmie Kumar
Angus McIntosh
Dr Dan Brook
Brian Sherman AM
Prof Clive Phillips
Prof Steve Garlick
Bruce Kent
Julia Stephenson
Stanley Johnson
Dr Jeffrey Masson
Prof Julia Formosinho
Prof Mark Eisler
Dr Kate Rawles
Prof Mohan Munasinghe
Prof Michael Carolan
Prof Paul Krause
Dr Antoine Goetschel
Carol Royle
Dr David Nally
Dr Chinny Krishna
Prof Martin Kemp
Prof João Formosinho
Prof Duo Li
Marina Lewycka
Chris Mullin
Martin Palmer
Dr Deborah Jones
Dale W Jamieson
Sue Jameson
James Bolam
Audrey Eyton
Wendel Trio
Nitin Mehta
Miriam Margolyes
Prof John Webster
Prof Michael Reiss
Annemiek Canjels
Dr Eleanor Boyle
Prof Marc Bekoff
Mario Tozzi
