EU Agriculture Policy Does Not Address Welfare

Welfare campaigners, Eurogroup for Animals and Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), have expressed their extreme disappointment that the European Commission has missed the opportunity to address the animal welfare problems caused by intensive systems of agricultural production in its proposals for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) published this week.

Eurogroup says that these systems cause distress to millions of farm animals and go against the concerns of Europe's citizens who expect their food to be produced without animal suffering.

The legislative proposals, despite repeated calls by both stakeholders and the general public, do not recognise in their objectives animal welfare as a public good, says Eurogroup. Instead the objectives are limited to delivering viable food production, sustainable management of natural resources and climate action, and balanced territorial development.

The improvement of animal welfare could well be promoted through these broader objectives, but it remains to be seen how in practice this will be taken into account as well as other public goods such as biodiversity conservation.

Eurogroup adds that it will work with the European Parliament and the Council to ensure animal welfare is incorporated more robustly in the CAP and the proposals are debated over the coming months.

Peter Stevenson, CIWF's Chief Policy Advisor commented: "We are deeply disappointed that current provisions have been very substantially weakened. Under the Commission proposals for the CAP, after 2013, almost none of the €55 billion of CAP funds handed out each year will be used to help farmers move away from industrialised farming to more humane, higher welfare farming."

In the US, Congress has ratified the free trade agreements between the US and Colombia, Panama and South Korea, which are expected to offer beneficial trading conditions for US poultry meat exporting companies.

Turning to news of bird flu, Iran has reported its first outbreaks of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza for three years in two flocks of village ducks in the north of the country. The World Health Organization reports that there have been 50 human cases of H5N1 flu so far this year, 26 of whom have died.

To close on a positive note, tomorrow (Friday 14 October) is World Egg Day. Please celebrate and help support our industry!