“The ugly truth behind the agro-industry, what you eat and what it does to Europe and South America.” During the G8 summit in june 2007 in Germany some actions took place against the meat industry in Mecklenburg, the region where the G8 took place. Here many unscrupulous pigfarmers from the Netherlands, Belgium and North-West Germany profit from the cheap land and weak environmental legislation and build stables for up to 15-thousand pigs. … verder lezen
This article is published in German in the reader 'Widerstand is Fruchtbar' by the Aktionsbündniss Globale Landwirtschaft zum G8 Gipfel 2007. The text is based on the BUND study “Fleischfabriken boomen – Umweltstandards sinken. Der Boom der Massentierhaltung in Deutschland und seine Folgen fuer die Umwelt”
The production of pork in the EU is increasing rapidly. But while 21,3 million tons are being produced, only 19,7 million tons are being consumed. This translates into an overproduction of almost 10 percent. In order to export this, there are about 200 million Euros in export subsidies for pork in the EU budget. This expresses and proves the power of the Agro-lobby in Brussels and Berlin.
The globalised pig is the main victim of the Agro lobby's attempts to dominate the world market.… verder lezen
With stock-breeding there are animals and feed that those animals are supposed to eat so humans will be able to consume the meat, milk or the egg. This is in general a not very efficient way of producing food, but this is how it has been done for many millenniums. The scale of this process is increasing ever more and on the A SEED website you can find a lot of information about the problems that result from this.
But the developments continue: now there is the Monsanto pig™ that is eating Monsanto feed™. And also The Netherlands is participating with enthusiasm; Hendrix Genetics is one of the world leading companies when it comes to hybrid chicken, pigs and turkeys.
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Until the March 2009, the village of La Gloria in the cactus-filled hills of Mexico’s Sierra Madre was like any other neglected community in the country. However, since April 27 – when Mexico’s health minister told the world that the community of 3,000 was home to the earliest known case of the Mexican flu – events have taken a startling turn.… verder lezen
Potatoes in Greenland, olives in the south of England, bell peppers grown outside of greenhouses in the Netherlands. The warmer weather offers possibilities. Furthermore, thanks to the mild winters, we can start growing our crops a few weeks earlier than we used to. And a higher level of CO2 also ensures a quicker growth rate and higher profits. This is the good news.
In reality, climate change is also dangerous for food production. Also, agriculture contributes heftily to the emission of greenhouse gases. Both these effects will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
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– About equal distribution of land and energy and sustainable consumption.”
This is the long title of a new brochure produced by A SEED. Besides explaining the many aspect of agrofuel related problems it, the brochure is mentioning ways to go to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses and to live with a radical lower energy use.
You can read the brochure on-line print the higher resolution pdf-file version. Or try to obtain a paper version.
Small version (72dpi, 8.8 MB, to read on a screen)
Large version (150dpi, 31.8 MB, to print)
Besides in English version there is also a version in German: “Agrotreibstoffe, kein Mittel gegen Ölabhängigkeit und Klimawandel. – Für eine gerechte Verteilung von Land un Energie sowie ein nachhaltiges Konsumverhalten”
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Why the production of agrofuels offers no solution to global climate problems, but rather creates and intensifies already existing social and ecological problems. With cases about sugar cane in Brazil, soy in Paraguay and oil palms in Colombia.… verder lezen
Because of the increasing production of soy in South America millions of hectares of rainforest and savanna are being destroyed. For this reason WWF started a campaign for sustainable soy production. The disappearance of forest and savanna is definitely a big disaster, but in the WWF initiative, many crucial issues are being ignored or put aside:… verder lezen
A SEED’s soy campaign questions large scale soy production in South America and supports sustainable and local food production in Europe. The campaign has the following goals: To inform the general public … verder lezen