Contact: Ms Aoife Ni Fheargail
Making Farm Animals Matter
Introduction
Farm animal welfare will present both opportunities and challenges to Irish farming over the next decade. Over the past number of years major farm animal welfare reforms have taken place both at national and EU level. We believe that this trend will continue as there is increasing consumer demand for safe and humanely-produced food. Therefore, CIWF believes that not only is it desirable, but it is crucial, that the Agri Food 2010 Committee looks seriously at the animal welfare problems of modern-day agriculture and recommends that Irish farming take a welfare-friendly path into the new Millennium. The following is a summary of our concerns and recommendations.
Farm Animal Welfare and Human Health
A series of food scares in recent years has provoked consumers to ask more questions about exactly how their food is produced. In terms of human health, CIWF believes that husbandry systems which have poor animal welfare standards are likely also to pose serious threats to food safety. Intensive farming, with its tendency to cram a large number of animals into severely overcrowded, often unhygienic, conditions is an important factor contributing to the bacterial infection of meat. Certainly factory farming's overcrowded conditions facilitate the rapid spread of bacteria among a herd or flock once they are introduced into the animals' housing.
It is no longer acceptable for the farming industry to risk the health of its customers, and cause suffering to the animals in its care, by rearing them in overcrowded and dirty conditions, and by administering to them artificial substances which push them beyond their natural growth rates, simply to maximise profits. CIWF believes that the best practice, in terms of human health, is to encourage more natural and humane feeding and rearing systems.
Changes in Consumer Attitudes
In light of increasing consumer concerns in Ireland and Northern Europe, Irish farming in the medium-term would benefit from a switch to animal welfare-friendly production. A recent National Opinion Poll conducted by Irish Marketing Surveys (IMS) of behalf of CIWF found that 83% of the Irish public would be prepared to pay a small amount more for eggs which were produced without keeping hens in battery cages. Demand for free-range eggs and organic meat is increasing all the time and the organic standards associations say that demand for organic meat currently vastly outstrips supply. Clearly, attitudes amongst the general public towards farm animal welfare are changing. The challenge for Irish agriculture is how to respond to this change. The opportunity for Irish farmers to capitalise on these changing attitudes and on Ireland's healthy green image cannot be overstated.
Farm Animal Welfare Reforms
The recent decision by the EU to ban the battery cage system for egg-laying hens shows that it is no longer fanciful to have good animal welfare. In recent years the EU has decided to phase-out the veal crate, the tethering of breeding sows and the battery cage for egg-laying hens. Further animal welfare reforms are to be expected.
Furthermore, a Protocol attached to the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty recognises animals as 'sentient beings'. This means that animals can suffer and feel pain and are not simply agricultural 'goods'. The Protocol also states:
"In formulating and implementing the Community's agriculture … policies, the Community and the Member States shall pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals".
National and EU policy makers are therefore legally obliged to take farm animal welfare into consideration when formulating new agriculture policies. The Agri Food 2010 Committee should ensure that Irish farmers are prepared for animal welfare reforms and are encouraged with financial assistance and expert advice to make the transition to animal welfare-friendly agriculture.
Farm Animal Welfare Problems
At present, most of the Irish pig industry is highly intensive, both for breeding sows and fattening pigs; most of the broiler chicken industry is also highly intensive; and the Government continues to encourage the trade in live animal exports. The problems of intensive animal farming and the export of live farm animals have been extensively documented by scientific and veterinary opinion in recent years.
The majority of breeding sows in the Republic of Ireland today spend their lives confined in intensive farms. Fattening pigs, reared for bacon and ham, are kept indoors throughout their lives in barren, overcrowded pens, never having access to fresh air or daylight. (The problems of intensive pig farming are outlined in annex 1). CIWF is calling on the Irish Government to promote the use of more animal welfare-friendly systems, such as free-range or indoor group housing with straw bedding.
Each year we rear and kill about 67 million broiler chickens in the Republic of Ireland. The vast majority of these birds live in huge sheds which may contain 10,000 to 20,000 chickens. Broiler chickens suffer due to the cramped factory farm conditions in which they are reared and also due to selective breeding. (The problems of the intensive broiler chicken production are outlined in annex 2). CIWF would like to see the Agri Food 2010 Committee recommend more welfare-friendly systems, such as free-range.
The export of live farm animals for slaughter and further fattening continues at an alarming rate. So far this year, Ireland has exported almost 235,000 farm animals alive to other EU countries and to the Lebanon. (The problems of the live export trade are outlined in annexes 3 and 4). CIWF would prefer to see farm animals slaughtered as near to the home farm as possible and then transported as meat. We are backed in this view by a wealth of scientific and veterinary opinion.
Research into the production of genetically-engineered and cloned farm animals is an on-going process. To date, genetic engineering and cloning have been disasters in terms of farm animal welfare. (Annex 5 describes the problems of farm animal genetic engineering and cloning). CIWF urges the Agri Food Committee to recommend a ban on the genetic engineering and cloning of farm animals in Ireland.
CIWF believes that switching to more humane methods of breeding, rearing, transporting and slaughtering animals would bring gains for consumers and would benefit the country as a whole. For instance, if we were to slaughter farm animals in Ireland and then promote an export trade in carcass meat, jobs would be maintained in Irish meat processing and the allied industries. CIWF would like to see the Irish Government show its commitment to farm animal welfare by prioritising farm animal welfare in the proposed strategy for the development of Irish agriculture.
The Common Agricultural Policy
In 1997, the direct cost of the Common Agricultural Policy or CAP to EU taxpayers was £27.6 billion (Stg.). CIWF believes that part of this should be used to move away from intensive farming to more healthy and humane alternative production methods. Indeed, CIWF would like to see a Farm Animal Welfare Scheme to offer financial support to farmers who wish to change from factory farming to extensive husbandry systems. Member States can use some discretion at national level on money from CAP. CIWF would propose that the Irish Government uses part of the CAP national envelope to encourage farmers into farming methods which have high standards of animal welfare (i.e. non-intensive), which produce safe food, and which produce food in a way which is not damaging to the environment.
World Trade Organisation
The free trade rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are having an increasingly damaging effect on attempts to secure improved standards of animal welfare. Moreover, WTO rules are making it increasingly difficult for the EU to introduce good new animal welfare measures. Although the EU can prohibit a cruel rearing system within its own territory, it cannot stop the import of meat derived from animals reared in that system in third countries. This acts as a powerful disincentive to EU animal welfare reforms.
At the June meeting of the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers it was agreed that rules governing the well-being of animals should constitute one of the fundamental points of the EU's negotiating mandate for the next round of multilateral trade negotiations under the WTO, due to commence later this year. (CIWF's position on the WTO is outlined in Annex 6). CIWF would recommend that the Irish Government use its influence to ensure that this Declaration forms part of the EU's negotiating stance for the next WTO round (the Millennium Round).
Farm Animal Welfare and the Environment
Factory farming poses many serious threats to the environment: water pollution, air pollution, deforestation, energy waste, noise pollution, and noxious smells. In 1993 An Taisce revealed that some pig rearing installations had been the cause of 'serious water pollution' and described how hotels and guesthouses in the Northeast, where there is a high concentration of piggeries, had lost clientele due to water pollution and noxious smells.
Recently, Dr Phil Ineson, of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, in Cumbria found that nitrogen emissions from units for intensively rearing animals are killing woods and forests at the same rate as the effects of industrial pollution. His team's work was followed up by other researchers who looked at intensive chicken farms and again found damaging nitrogen pollution nearby. CIWF would suggest that the ideal in terms of environmental protection is to raise fewer animals and to encourage small-scale production with natural rearing and feeding practices.
Conclusions
The recent decision to ban battery cages for laying hens shows that farm animal welfare is now firmly on the EU's political agenda. In ever-increasing numbers, consumers are demanding that their food be produced in an animal welfare-friendly way.
Intensive animal husbandry has serious implications not only for human health and the environment but also for farm animal welfare. Animals are now legally recognised as sentient beings in EU law and Member States are obliged to "pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals" when formulating new agricultural policies. Therefore, we feel that the Agri Food 2010 Committee must take farm animal welfare into consideration when it proposes a strategy for the development of Irish agriculture and food over the next decade.
CIWF believes that the Irish Government should use its power to ensure that farming in Ireland develops along animal welfare-friendly lines. Not only would this benefit farm animals, but there would be significant benefits for the economy and for us all as consumers and producers.
We urge the Agri Food 2010 Committee to recommend that high standards of farm animal welfare should be inextricably linked with the development of the farming sector in Ireland. It is CIWF's view that the future for Irish farming lies in producing food that is not only high in quality, but is environmentally-safe, healthy and above all compassionately-produced.