Many people think that international trade in meat is good for everyone. For animals it hardly ever is. A country that produces for the world market produces more than its own population needs. The animals pay for that overproduction.
Producing for export means producing cheaply
On the world market, whoever produces most cheaply wins. That pushes farmers to keep more animals in less space, with fewer staff and in less time. Farmers who want to treat their animals better cannot compete with those prices. In this way trade also forces other countries to adopt the methods of factory farming.
Why ship meat from one country to another if that country produces meat as well? Meat often travels in both directions. That exchange mainly benefits a few companies.
The objections of Animal Freedom
- Overproduction. A country with more animals than its own land can feed has to import animal feed. There is too much manure. It pollutes water and soil.
- Transport of live animals. Animals sometimes travel for days by road or by ship (video). They suffer from stress, heat and thirst. The rules are often not observed.
- Feed from other continents. In South America forests are cut down to grow soy for farm animals on other continents. Wild animals lose their habitat. Poorer countries lose land for their own food (the agricultural economy of poorer countries).
- Resistant bacteria. Where many animals are kept together, many antibiotics are used. Resistant bacteria travel with the meat.
- Less nature. Factory farming takes up land. It fills the countryside with manure, nitrogen and ugly buildings. Wild animals have less space to live and move around (connected nature areas).
An example: the Netherlands
The Netherlands, the home country of Animal Freedom, is a small country with one of the most intensive livestock sectors in the world. It exports most of its meat, dairy and eggs. Animal Freedom wants factory farming there to end. Ecological, animal-friendly farming could easily feed the whole Dutch population. In the Netherlands, factory farming costs society more than it brings in (farmers produce for export: close the borders).
What countries can do
A country can set limits at its border: less export of animal products and no transport of live animals between continents. The agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) do not make this easy. But why not make an exception for animals? Without limits, production will keep growing.
It can be done. Since July 2024 the United Kingdom no longer allows the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening. The British organisation CIWF campaigned for this for many years. Australia has decided to end the export of live sheep by sea from May 2028.
What you can do
Do not buy imported animal products. Read why in Why exporting meat and dairy leads to animal suffering.
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