A Compassionate World

After last week’s seminal lecture by Lester Brown in memory of our late founder, it is perhaps an opportune moment to take stock of where we are going. Stating the obvious for a moment, Compassion in World Farming is, and always has been, about stopping cruelty to farm animals. In 1967, our founder, Peter Roberts, launched our organisation in response to the cages and crates that came to define modern intensive farming.  Our track record is testimony to the success of his approach. Now as we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, his rallying cry is needed more than ever. Today, factory farming is the biggest cause of animal suffering in the world. Globally we rear around 60 billion animals a year, mostly in factory farms.  

Compassion recognises that ending such wide-scale cruelty to animals is a huge task -improving the plight of billions of animals will require the energy of many thousands of people.  In order to mobilise maximum energy against factory farming, Compassion is working hard to bring to the world’s attention some of the other, less known impacts of factory farming. Until recently few realised that run-away factory farming and its consequent addictive diet of “cheap” meat has resulted in livestock production accounting for almost 20% of human greenhouse gas emissions.

If you tunnel to the very core, to the ‘essence’, of Compassion in World Farming, you’ll find a belief that farm animals should not, and need not, suffer.  We want to end factory farming.  Why?  Because keeping animals caged, crammed and confined causes huge suffering to the animals involved.  Suffering that could often be avoided if a different, more humane rearing system were used.  

It is fair to say that climate change dominates the world’s attention at this time.  It is also fair to say that the majority of nations around the world recognise the perils of allowing our planet to heat up in the years ahead.  What is less commonly reported is that many within the powerful agribusiness lobby are arguing that further intensification of livestock farming could help combat climate change. Their argument is simple: the world’s growing population will need more “efficient” meat production to satisfy growing demand – so the answer to them seems obvious… more “modern”, “efficient”, “mechanised” farming.   In other words, the spectre of climate change could lead policy makers to sleepwalk us into more, not less, factory farming in the years ahead.  

We know that this would be a disaster on an unimaginable scale; for animals as well as people. It would cause even greater suffering and make our food system even further removed from environmental sustainability, bringing further serious consequences.  Our recent high-profile lecture event explored some of the issues at stake here.

Alerting our policy-makers to the folly of factory farming on all fronts – animal cruelty, climate and social costs – will be vital if we are to overcome the huge vested interests that are behind the industrial agricultural model.

Compassion is not a ‘climate change’ or environmental organisation.  We are an animal welfare organisation.  However, we see the consequences of factory farming on our climate, our environment and our ability to feed the world’s people.  There is a great onus on us to engage in the big debates of our time.  It is essential to contribute to discussions on food, farming and the environment to help steer the world toward a better future, toward humane and sustainable farming.  And therein lies great opportunity.

The climate change debate is a powerful example of where our message of compassion and respect for farm animals is both timely and relevant.  Global deliberations on climate change (the next stage comes to a climax in December with the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen), presents us with an opportunity to stop and re-think our relationship with food and farming.  Most experts agree that success in the battle against climate change will require a seismic re-appraisal of the way we do things on our planet – and this represents a golden chance to promote our vision.  Not simply to combat the intensive agribusiness lobby and avoid further intensification but to re-assess the very way in which humanity treats the tens of billions of animals produced each year.

We know that factory farming is cruel.  The current debate gives us an opportunity to point out how stupid it is too.