Export of animal products produces a lot of misery
Meat, milk, cheese and eggs in the supermarket often come from far away. If you buy those products, you do not see how the animals lived. Nor do you see how far they travelled or where their feed came from. Buying animal products from abroad means contributing to that suffering.
Export of animal products produces little profit but causes a lot of misery (e.g. foot-and-mouth disease) which is unnecessary. Whether or not factory farming produces more job opportunities and tax income for the government than organic farming is also a matter for debate. It is clear that organic farming methods have different personnel requirements which may mean that some farmers would have to retrain when a switch to an organic system is made. These consequences cannot be regarded as a fair argument against a change to an organic system when the suffering of animals is involved.
Subjects
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Export of animal products leads to factory farming
The consumption of industrially produced meat products is on the increase because prices are low. If we were to demand that the same meat products were produced in an ecologically friendly way, price rises would be inevitable. These higher prices would have the advantage of reducing the demand and thus the production of meat and would also increase the profit margin for the producers. The consumers would have to be prepared to pay more for their meat or to eat less meat in exchange for healthier production methods in livestock farming. Is this not a reasonable sacrifice in view of the general disapproval of the abuse of animals in factory farming? |
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The disadvantages of export of animal products
If a country were to adopt organic livestock farming as the norm, the export of the organic meat products would not only be, by definition, undesirable but would also be contrary to the basic principles of ecologically sound working methods. These principles involve the re-establishment of a natural cycle of raw materials which is disrupted by export of animal products just as it is by the import of fodder for the animals. Export is only made possible by producing more than the local market requires. This overproduction results in much suffering for the animals involved because lack of space and the search for more profits leads to animals being kept in confined conditions. The import of animal fodder from abroad depletes the natural balance of minerals in the exporting country and results in excessive fertilization of the agricultural land in the importing country. The land is then so highly fertilized that the only crop that can be grown is maize: one of the few fodder crops that will tolerate extremely high levels of fertilization.
This excessive fertilization also results in pollution of the ground water which makes drinking water production more expensive and swimming water unattractive. It also produces a lot of unpleasant smells which together with the ugly buildings that are associated with factory farming makes the countryside unattractive to tourists. The transport of live animals in Europe and Asia causes much stress especially where export is involved even when the regulations designed to avoid suffering are observed which is often not the case. A ban on live exports should be combined with a ban on the transport of exotic animals. |
Do restrictions in live exports conflict with international agreements?
It can be argued that free-trade agreements have been signed and must, therefore, be observed but why should it not be possible to make exceptions for animals? The only alternative is that countries request or try to force the factory farmers to improve the lot of their animals. The continuing abuses in factory farming demonstrate that this approach does not work because the incentives to continue the intensive methods are so great. Consumers, producers and the government all gain by the highest possible production of animal products while at the same time turning a blind eye to the objections. At the same time, this same group of people object to the practices used to achieve these ends. This combination of shortsightedness and inconsistent behaviour will not lead automatically to a solution to the problem: this can only be achieved by setting a limit on the overproduction. The borders of the producing country can be used to set these limits by imposing export bans. If no limits are set, there will be no end to this immoral production which stems from an unscrupulous application of free-market principles. |
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Which participants in the market are capable of banning exports?
It is obvious that neither the producers nor the government would voluntarily give up their own competitive advantage. A solution is only possible if all the participants make concessions. A large-scale changeover to ecological farming methods is only possible if the government decides to support ecological farming and stops subsidizing factory farming. This demands honesty and courage from the government. The various government departments involved should make an honest appraisal of the economic consequences of the present farming methods and should have the courage to raise the question of whether the introduction of decent agricultural working methods really would threaten national prosperity.
The consumer can exert influence by purchasing home-produced ecological products and boycotting imported products. |
What you do not see when you buy imported products
- Animal welfare rules differ greatly from country to country. In many countries they are weak or hardly enforced.
- Imported products are often the cheapest. Behind a low price there are almost always animals with little space (the worst abuses).
- Many animals travel alive for days before they reach the slaughterhouse (transport of live animals).
- The feed often comes from another continent. To grow it, forests where wild animals live are cut down.
What you can do
- Buy fewer animal products. Even better: eat plant-based (food choices).
- If you buy animal products, choose organic products from your own region.
- Ask in the shop or at the market where they come from.
- Do not buy imported animal products, not even when they are cheaper.
That way you help animals twice: in your own country and in the country the product would have come from.
What should happen in a country that produces for export? Read step 2, with the Netherlands as an example: farmers produce for export: close the borders.
Read also
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What do animals prefer?
Apes prefer organic
Monkeys at Copenhagen Zoo are going ape over organic bananas and other fruits, rejecting non-organic foods left in their cages. Copenhagen Zoo, which hopes to be awarded a "green label" as an environmental zoo, began last year feeding its animals at least 10 percent organic products. "The tapirs and chimpanzees are choosing organically grown bananas over the others", zookeeper Niels Melchiorsen told the magazine Oekologisk Jordbrug (Ecological Agriculture). "The chimpanzees are able to tell the difference between the organic and the regular fruit. If we give them organic and traditional bananas, they systematically choose the organic bananas, which they eat with the skin on. But they peel the traditional bananas before eating them". Unfortunately, we humans have to rely upon labeling to distinguish the good products. (source: US Farm Crisis) |
Australia
In Australia the export of live animals has long been controversial. In 2024 the Australian parliament decided to end the export of live sheep by sea from May 2028. Since July 2024 the United Kingdom no longer allows the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening. |
