Intensive livestock farming is the primary cause of climate change and is making a decisive contribution to the environmental collapse that is condemning our species and many others. In Europe, more than 60 per cent of the cereals grown are used to feed livestock, and the agri-food industry is the main source of groundwater pollution. "A serving of beef creates an atmospheric warming potential equivalent to 36 kilos of CO2 – argues Lisa Kemmerer in the book Mangiare la terra – corresponding to what is generated by driving a small car for 3 hours and covering 250 kilometres." As if that were not enough, almost a fifth of the European Union's total budget is spent on funding this activity in Europe.

Funding the catastrophe

This was revealed by a new report published by Greenpeace, Nutrire il problema: la pericolosa intensificazione dell'allevamento in Europa. The report, which once again highlights the absolute necessity of reducing the consumption of meat and dairy products, argues that between 18 and 20 per cent of the EU's total annual budget, between 28.5 and 32.6 billion euros, is used to fund companies that raise livestock and those that produce feed for livestock.

Europe eats too much meat

The problem of excessive meat consumption affects several areas of the planet but is, according to Greenpeace's research, particularly acute on the Old Continent. In the European Union, the average per capita meat consumption is in fact double the global average. Just a month ago, a study published in the British scientific journal The Lancet suggested that in Europe, to avoid a worsening of the climate crisis and to prevent the loss of wildlife (without even considering the impact on human health), a 77 per cent cut in red meat consumption would be necessary.

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The livestock industry has a massive impact on the climate.
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How much land livestock farming takes up

To draw up the report, the researchers used publicly available data from the European Commission and Eurostat, which enabled them to estimate agricultural subsidies and the amount of land tied to livestock farming. The data revealed that more than 71 per cent of all agricultural land in the EU, approximately 125 million hectares, is devoted to feeding livestock, at the expense of crops for human use.

Read also

• Cowspiracy, il documentario sul terribile impatto degli allevamenti
• Allevamenti intensivi in Italia, perché il consumo di carne rossa è in calo
• I rischi dell'allevamento intensivo
• Report, batteri sempre più resistenti a causa degli allevamenti intensivi minacciano la nostra salute

The failure of industrial livestock farming

"Scientists are warning us that we need to reduce meat consumption to avoid environmental disaster, it is madness to give all this money to intensive livestock farming – stated Greenpeace's agricultural policy director, Marco Contiero. – Europe has a responsibility to use the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) to help farmers transition to a more ecological form of farming, raising fewer animals but doing so better, protecting our environment, our climate and our health." For a paradigm shift, it is first and foremost necessary to change the diet of livestock, which should be predominantly grass-based — an end, therefore, to cereals and soya.

An end to monocultures

Greenpeace, given the senselessness of funding activities that cause more harm than good, believes that EU agricultural subsidies should be redirected to encourage greater production of fruit and vegetables. It is worth remembering that intensive agriculture too, based on monocultures, has a serious environmental impact and manages to sustain itself thanks to subsidies, and that it too should therefore pursue a more sustainable path. "The push towards monoculture – writes British author George Monbiot – causes a denaturalisation, both of places and of people. It strips the land of the diversity of life and the natural structure towards which human beings tend."