Organic farming respects the environment and animal welfare, and positions itself as a model for the agroecological transition. But according to Federbio, even higher production standards are needed.
What does organic farming mean — and, more importantly, what does respecting animal welfare mean today? These questions were discussed during the second leg of the Festa del bio, on 4 October in Milan, an event conceived by Federbio (Federazione italiana agricoltura biologica) to bring together industry operators, associations and citizens to discuss organic matters through talks, show cooking and workshops. During the event, Federbio, together with all the associations of Cambia la terra — Isde Medici per l'ambiente, Legambiente, Lipu, Slow Food and Wwf — presented the booklet Allevamenti. Sostenibile non basta: il modello è quello del bio, a text that takes stock of the impact of livestock farming in Italy and proposes innovative, concrete solutions for a new production method in the livestock sector.
Organic farming is governed by European regulation 834/2018 on organic production, which refers to a number of principles including:
According to organic regulations, in an organic farm animals must have free access to pastures and open spaces wherever possible; the number of animals must be appropriate to the available space; the use of growth-stimulating hormones is prohibited; preventive antibiotics are not permitted; animals must be fed primarily on organic feed and graze on organic land; mutilation practices such as tail-docking in pigs, beak-trimming in hens or dehorning in cows are banned, with rare exceptions (for example those linked to veterinary procedures) that must be authorised.
Organic farming stands in contrast to intensive farming, a model that emerged in the post-war period and aimed at production efficiency, even at the cost of animal welfare, with large numbers of animals concentrated in small spaces, overfed and pumped with hormones and antibiotics. Intensive farming has also proved damaging from an environmental perspective: the separation of livestock farming from agriculture has broken an ecosystemic balance, in turn generating further problems such as air, water and soil pollution and the need to feed animals with soya-based feed, the intensive cultivation of which has caused significant forest loss.
For this reason, according to Federbio (Federazione italiana agricoltura biologica), at a historic moment when it is necessary to move towards sustainability at every level and in every sector, the first step to take on the subject of livestock farming is to shift from an intensive model to one based on organic production and agroecology. A model that would bring livestock farming closer to the objectives set by the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies of the European Green Deal, which include, among other things, halving antibiotic use in livestock farming by 2030.
And that is not all. Starting from the awareness that even within organic farming it is necessary to aim for ever higher quality standards in order to meet the needs of citizens who are increasingly sensitive to the issue of animal welfare, the Cambia la terra associations have drawn up a booklet containing an advanced interpretation of the European organic regulation that defines the Standard high welfare, a farming model that takes into account animal welfare, but also the conservation of biodiversity, the promotion of local breeds and small-scale farms, which are important for the revitalisation of inland areas.
"The organic specification leaves some room for interpretation," explained Maria Grazia Mammuccini, president of Federbio. "That is why at the end of 2016 we launched a participatory process to finally provide an interpretation, from the perspective of animal welfare, of the organic farming regulations in the Italian context. To give an example, whereas the organic regulation recommends that animals graze whenever possible, we have instead established that animals must be allowed to graze for at least 120 days a year."
The Federbio Standard, which goes beyond the requirements of the organic regulation, aims at a correct balance between crop production and animal production and has its main pillars in:
"Animal welfare must be pursued in a holistic vision and in accordance with the ethogram (the set of natural behaviours) specific to each species," explained Sujen Santini, a veterinary surgeon. "The animal is a sentient being and, beyond avoiding negative experiences, we must also promote positive ones. In my experience of working on farms, I can say that there are no technical obstacles to the transition, only cultural ones. In many of the cases in which we have managed to carry out a conversion from conventional to organic farming, we have done so through synergies at a local level between livestock farmers and crop farmers, from which new social relationships have also emerged." This is why innovative solutions are needed from an organisational standpoint as well, such as organic districts — provided for under the organic farming law — which bring multiple businesses into correlation.
The document aims to meet the growing demand for organic meat that is currently not being sufficiently covered by domestic supply — as highlighted in a document by Ismea, the agricultural market research body — but does so with an approach in line with European Green Deal strategies, and sets out a new virtuous path with regard to animal farming and meat consumption, which will need to be reduced but of higher quality. Quality that, as producers are calling for, must be clearly indicated on the label, so as to enable consumers to make increasingly informed choices.