Farming Union Hits Back after Environmentalist Predicts Demise of Welsh Livestock Farming
Earth and Leaf Editorial - The Demise of Welsh Livestock Farming
The problem with Abi’s and Gareth’s comments are around communication and education. Welsh livestock farming has to change as all livestock farming must. The demise of Welsh livestock farming is not inevitable, but we cannot continue to bury our heads in the sand and ignore its impact on our environment. We must reduce meat consumption and reduce methane emissions. If that means using just transition to help farmers in Wales find a new way forward then so be it.
Excerpt – The Demise of Welsh Livestock Farming
The Deputy President of NFU Cymru has rubbished claims by a leading environmentalist that livestock farming in Wales is doomed.
Gareth Clubb is the director of WWF Cymru, but he stresses that an article published on his blog is a personal view that has not been endorsed by his employer. In it, he argues that changes in eating habits will lead to the demise of Welsh livestock farming within a few years.
He referred specifically to protein molecules produced by precision fermentation – a technique that allows alternatives to meat to be created by tissue from live animals.
But Abi Reader of the NFU, a third generation farmer herself who farms near Cardiff, said: “Gareth’s comments have not been received well at all by our members. I think it just goes to show how out of touch he is with the situation on the ground, and with reality in terms of how people in this world feed themselves. It’s not news that anyone wants to be hearing at the moment.”
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