Meat Free Mondays - What about Farmers?

Reducing our meat intake does not have to have negative consequences for farmers.  After all, the population is rising, so the demand will still be there, even if we all do eat less.  But hopefully we can reduce our reliance on large scale industrial farming systems and instead give our support to the farmers who are operating on a less industrial scale.  If we all eat less meat, but choose better quality meat when we do buy it, rather than cheap imported meat, we will be supporting our own farmers and helping to promote good animal welfare.  In Britain, you can look for the Red Tractor symbol to know that it is British, as well as labels which tell you more about the production of it, such as whether it is outdoor reared, free range and/or organic.

In developing nations, livestock rearing is often the only option for earning a livelihood and provides food and income for a billion of the world’s poorest people, especially in Africa and Asia.  But this is very different from intensive farming.  The question is whether the way faming is intensifying is a sustainable option and whether the environmental consequences will push people further into poverty?