Conference Discusses Sustainability in Food Production

Ever since the UN released the report Livestock's Long Shadow back in 2006, in which it showed that animal farming is the biggest source of emissions in the world, with 18% of the total (transportation accounts for 13%), the topic has become a staple of discussions around environmental sustainability.

One of the reasons why animal farming is so unsustainable is due to the rise of factory farming, industrial scale operations where animals are raised in extreme confinement, requiring massive amounts of antibiotics and hormones.

According the UN, livestock uses 30 percent of the earth's entire land surface, mostly permanent pasture but also including 33 percent of the global arable land used to producing feed for livestock. As forests are cleared to create new pastures, it drives deforestation, especially in Latin America, where 70 percent of native forest coverage has been turned into pasture and feedcrops cover a large part of the remainder. Deforestation also leads to a loss in biodiversity.

The livestock also uses over eight percent of global human water use, mostly for the irrigation of feedcrops. The UN report said it is the largest sectoral source of water pollution, contributing to eutrophication, "dead" zones in coastal areas, degradation of coral reefs, human health problems, emergence of antibiotic resistance and other problems. The pollution comes from animal wastes, which are laden with antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and pesticides used for feedcrops, and sediments from eroded pastures.

With a view to propose a more sustainable alternative to factory farms, Farm Sanctuary, an animal welfare organization, is hosting a conference that will bring together experts from various fields to discuss a way to end factory farming.

The National Conference to End Factory Farming: for Health, Environment, and Farm Animals gathers experts from the environmental, public health, and animal welfare movements and it's the first of its kind. It started yesterday (Thursday Ocober 27) and closes tomorrow (Saturday October 29) in Arlington, VA.

"This conference is unique in its exclusive focus on factory farming and the problems surrounding it, and aims to reach a broad audience of professionals and advocates from the animal protection, health, and environmental movements to collaborate on these issues", the organizers said. "With the 2012 Farm Bill coming up for a re-authorization vote, now is a more urgent time than ever for anti-factory farming advocates from across the board to come together", they added.

The program includes 30 speakers from a wide range of backgrounds, including high profile names such Executive Director of Food and Water Watch Wenonah Hauter, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine director of government affairs Elizabeth Kucinich and leading researcher in the field of diet and disease and author of The China Study Dr. T. Colin Campbell.

Today and tomorrow there are panel discussions, and a banquet dinner tonight. Panels are covering a wide range of factory farming related topics, including climate change, public health risks, the emotional lives of farm animals, and a look at the economics of factory farming. There are also Q&A sessions and exhibit tables showcasing healthy, sustainable, cruelty-free products and organizations.

Image credit: FAO