Day 34: I support our farmers

While the only topic we can talk about these days is the Corona Virus, there seems to be a civil war going on in The Netherlands, On the one hand, there are the farmers and those who support the farmers. On the other hand, there are people who believe we should put an end to livestock farming. The farmer's argument is that they provide our food in The Netherlands. That is technically incorrect as about 80% of all the meat that we produce is FedExed to foreign countries. Every year we slaughter 640 million animals, so we can definitely say that we are one of the butchers of Europe.

Pigs that can go outdoors to explore the world, in a farm in Dobbiaco, South Tirol

I also believe it is not realistic to think that we all quit eating meat from tomorrow. So while there are still people who eat meat, we urgently need to move to a situation where our farm animals have better lives. Even if those lives are too short, let them at least be respectful. 

Following the undercover images of the barbaric abuse at pigs at Westfort by staff as well as by vets of the NVWA (the controlling authority), it surprised me that Minister Schouten was very quick to present a solution. In a professional environment, for example in aviation, which is an industry that leads in safety management, an incident is usually first followed by an investigation. People get suspended if the situation is serious, a thorough, objective investigation takes place, findings are analysed and conclusions are drawn. Only then, recommendations in the form of solutions are presented. Our minister, however, didn't need any of that; there was and is no need to suspend the operation, some form of investigation is on its way, the responsible people are told to behave a bit better next time and the solution is already there! Very impressive indeed.

The solution presented is to lower the production speed of the slaughtering. What the minister - or probably more likely,  the high-level NVWA manager who whispered this into the Minister's ear - didn't think about, is that this will just move the problem to a different place in the 'production line'. Already last summer thousands of pigs suffered from overheating while waiting for hours and hours in overcrowded transport vans to wait for their turn to be slaughtered. The presented solution is likely to make this worse. 

However, there is another solution, and it is a very simple one: we need to drastically reduce the number of animals we keep. Over and over again it is proven that we simply cannot cope with these quantities. So one would expect that I am against the farmers, but I am not.  If there is anyone to blame, it is the CDA and the VVD for trying anything they can to keep this sick industry going, I blame the supermarkets for pushing down the prices, that have contributed to the dire situation in which animals live; I blame the consumer for continuing to buy cheap meat at the cost of animal welfare, I blame the NVWA for being incapable, I blame Minister Schouten for a consistent lack of leadership and most of all, I blame myself for having eaten all sorts of meat for most of my life, without ever having wondered where it came from. 

Happy pigs at a farm in Dobbiaco, South Tirol

But do I blame the farmers? I sure believe that also they should take their share in the responsibility, but I often visit farmers and I know that most farmers really want to care for their animals as best as they can. All farmers I know are honest and hard-working people and I understand that they are fed up with people like me, who think they are clever because they read some reports and know all the numbers, but who have never stood with their feet in the mud. And as an entrepreneur, I also understand that farmers feel abandoned by the government for creating continuous uncertainty. Farmers ask for one thing and that is clarity, so they know where they stand, and the government is not even able to provide them with that.  

I think if we would enter in dialogue more often, we might actually discover that our ideals don't differ that much. Farmers might have great ideas on how we can improve animal welfare and what they would need in order to achieve that. If we would manage to stop exporting meat and live animals (and prohibit meat import), we can reduce our livestock by 80% and put a stop to long transport, which causes additional stress to the animals. This means animals can have more and a better life. Better for the environment, better for the animals, and probably more rewarding for farmers. The consumer will pay three times more, which means he will appreciate it more and is likely to eat less meat, which is also healthier. 

So yes, I support our farmers and anyone else who is open to not just achieve sustainable farming, but a way of farming that is kinder and more respectful to our animals, perhaps just like they do in South Tyrol.

Me, 20 years ago, with biological farmer Dick from Farm De Lindenhorst in de Hoef, I still visit their animals whenever I get the chance.  

Only through education, we can put an end to intensive farming and together we will!!! We are raising 10 Euros for every kilometer we ski, which will be used to make a documentary about pigs. Please help us to realise this documentary and make the world a place without intensive farming!

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