Friends of the Earth released a report today to expose the vast amounts of public money - over £700 million per year - used to support factory farming in England. In their report, Feeding the Beast, they say “Factory farming for meat and dairy is at the heart of a hidden chain that links the food on our plates to rainforest destruction in South America. To make them grow quickly and produce high yields, animals in factory farms are being pumped full of imported soy crops – creating demand for vast plantations that are wiping out forests and forcing communities off their lands in South America”.

A spokesperson from the National Farmers Union said, “We have nothing against small scale, low output, farming systems but to suppose this is a model which will feed the world’s growing population is disingenuous. Either Friends of the Earth is looking to use much more of the world’s land area for farming – which really would put wilderness and rainforest at risk – or it imagines that, in some way or other, the world’s population is going to be dramatically smaller.”

Of course, the NFU don’t want to consider the third option; that people switch to a plant-based diet. Simon Fairlie, co-editor of the Ecologist, made an analysis of different agricultural systems in his article ‘Can Britain Feed Itself?’, published in his magazine The Land. He calculated that with a vegan permaculture system, we could not only feed everyone but we’d also have 8.8 million hectares of land spare.

New research has shown that the methane emissions have been rising at a much faster rate than carbon dioxide -  over the last 250 years, CO2 has increased by 31% but methane has increased by a staggering 149%. As methane lasts longer in the atmosphere it also has a higher global warming potential and has already caused a fifth of the global warming experienced since 1750.

The university of Portsmouth found that a herd of 200 cows produce annual emissions of methane equivalent to driving a family car more than 100,000 miles (180,000km) on more than four gallons (21,400 litres) of petrol.

The main source of methane? Animals.

It’s no wonder the National Farmers’ Union is getting a little nervous, they have already stated that the new targets for 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions will make it neccessary for massive reductions in meat production. This new research is not going to do them any favours.

The National Farmer’s Union have got all upset this week as they claim that the Climate Change Committee’s recommendation to the Government will not be possible without a massive reduction in livestock production.

The Climate Change Committee’s recommendation is to increase the target for greenhouse gas reduction from 60 to 80% and also to include all greenhouses gases in the targets, such as methane and nitrous oxide which are maining produced by the agricultural sector.

Also this week, a former head of the NFU, Hugh Richards, admitted two dozen breaches of animal welfare laws. Richards was awarded an OBE in 1999 for his services to agriculture and was described as “pillar of the community”. Hmmm, tell that to his animals.

So, not a good week for the NFU. But they best get used to it, climate change isn’t going away any time soon, and neither is the country’s sharp eye of animal cruelty.

The government’s announcement that there would not be a badger cull was received with great relief last week; at least to all those who recognise that the trapping and killing of these innocent, protected animals is not only ineffective in reducing bovine TB but also totally inhumane.

As you can imagine, the National Farmers Union (NFU) are not happy about the decision and plan to do all they can to over turn it. Last year 28,000 cows were killed because they were infected with bovine TB. However, we know from past experience and extensive research that a badger cull is not the solution to this problem. The cull would have resulted in the suffering and death of around 20,000 badgers; for absolutely nothing.

The NFU have announced that they will not take part in a new government partnership group which will work on a new TB strategy, despite the fact that Hilary Benn has committed an extra £20 million to fund the development of vaccines for both badgers and cattle. It seems the NFU are determined to kill all the badgers, even when other, more effective, solutions are offered!

Peter Kendall, president of the NFU, even had the cheek to challenge Gordon Brown about his earlier announcements about food waste, claiming that the government is responsible for the waste of milk and beef and thousands of cattle because the badger cull will not go ahead.

If the NFU was really concerned about the efficient use of food, they wouldn’t be farming dairy and beef at all, since we all know animal agriculture requires huge amounts more feed, land, energy and water than any other form of farming. Feeding 956 million tonnes of grain and soy to animals every year is the biggest waste of food there is.

Barry O’Neil, president of the World Organisation for Animal Health said recently that livestock farmers need access to genetically modified crops if they are to keep up with the demands for meat.

He spoke at a meeting in London last week and acknowledged that the increased demand for food from a world population expected to rise by 50% by 2020 was of serious concern to farmers.  Already a third of crops are grown for animal feed, so there needs to be a new solution.

“I think we are entering a new phase, dominated by environmental issues, climate change and rising demand. By 2050 we will need twice as much food, produced from less land and with less water and more pressures around environmental sustainability. These are real challenges we need to get our heads around, and I think we need GM crops to help us” he said.

Jim McLaren, president of National Farmers Union Scotland, is also pressing for more GM foods. He believes that one of the most significant ways of stabilising and reducing feed costs is the relaxation of EU strict rules on the import of GM crops - mainly soya and maize, from the US.

Whilst many consumers oppose GM crops, few realise they are already eating animals fed on GM feeds anyway, since almost all soy grown in Argentina and the US has been modified, and the same is rapidly becoming so in Brazil. The soy is imported to feed chickens, cattle, and pigs prior to slaughter. Currently there is no mandatory requirement for shops to label meat produced from GM-fed animals.

Around 60% of the maize and 30% of the soya used in animal feed by dairy and pig farmers is GM. This means that most of the non-organic milk, dairy products and pork being sold in the UK is from GM-fed animals. (33)

Giant biotech multinationals and livestock farmers are using the rise in demand for food as an excuse to push GM. Let’s all make more efficient use of the world’s food by eating it ourselves instead of to animals: go vegan.