Are farmers to blame?

Not all farmers are the same

When you read the objections on Animal Freedom about intensive cattle farms, you may wonder "does Animal Freedom think all farmers are bad, or what"?

Apples and pears: different types of farmers

Farmers come in all fruits and sorts: a farmer can be a potato farmer, a greengrocer, a gentleman farmer, a cheese farmer, a dairy farmer, a tenant farmer, a cattle farmer, et cetera. On Animal Freedom we deal with intensive farmers. Just like everywhere else, there are bad apples.

In the last few years the already overflowing "basket of apples and pears" has been topped with a number of cattle farmers ("pears") who originally were not farmers ("apples"). We mean those cattle farmers who do not have their own farmland to raise cattle fodder and who have started a factory farm with the sole purpose of making a lot of money ("bad pears"). This is the group of farmers with which we have a bone to pick.

The farmers with their own orchards, who have still started a factory farm ("bad apples"), as far as we are concerned should grin and bear going back to ecologically responsible management and offer their cattle the opportunity to go outside.

For an understanding of the situation of pig farmers in Brabant, the Dutch province with the most pigs, see the column "Brabant Blues".

Widespread violations of animal welfare rules

In 2000 an investigation by the Dutch inspection service (then AID, now NVWA) showed that over 50% of Dutch pig farmers were violating even the most minimal rules for pig welfare and were knowingly inflicting harm on the animals. Very tight housing, dim to dark pens and withholding diversion material were more the rule than the exception. By housing the animals even more tightly, farmers also avoided having to buy ammonia rights.

Calling on farmers to clean house

Animal Freedom thinks that the image of the agricultural profession suffers from factory farmers. For this reason it calls on farmers to rid themselves of this group by working together in farmers' organizations to put a stop to factory farming and other wrongs. Too many pigs make for small pieces of the pie.

Insufficient enforcement

In many countries a pig farm is inspected for animal welfare only once every few years, or even less often. In the Netherlands at that time, it was once every seventeen years, while the majority of pig farmers violated one or more rules of the pig welfare decree. For the farms of the future, the environment is not the only thing that matters. Animal welfare matters too, but in the media it gets "manured over".

A vision for responsible farming

Focus on local markets instead of export

Animal Freedom thinks that those cattle farmers who are willing to work responsibly, have to stop selling their products for a song through export, and instead aim toward the local market. This goes for the sale of products and manure, but also for the purchase of animal fodder.

Characteristics of sustainable farming

Words that should characterize cattle farming are: small-scale, land-based, animal-friendly, ecologically balanced and aimed at the local market. Governments would do well to support this development.

The apples of our eye

Farmers who operate ecologically, modern and efficient, those are the apples of our eye. And we wouldn't mind losing factory farming altogether.