Interview
Anton Hofreiter: “In Brazil, the impact of our animal show that mast”
Germany is the third largest pig meat producer in the world. Anton Hofreiter, Chairman of the Green, calls for in his book, “meat factory” Agriculture. In a DW Interview, he explains why.
Deutsche Welle: Mr. Hofreiter, you have written the book “meat factory”. In it they describe how the mass animal farming have destroyed the human basis of life. What, in your opinion, wrong?
Anton Hofreiter: That’s a lot of points. Too many animals are not kept animals in accordance with, the part that is even cruelty to animals. It is applied too much manure on the fields, which threatens our ground water. In addition, there are a lot of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, which threatens the diversity of species. Besides, too much soy is imported from South America. It endangers the human rights and destroyed the rain forest. And overall, it is exported to a lot of to West Africa and hence food sovereignty at risk. The farmers would bring in trouble. But here, too, the agricultural policy will not help the farmers: The prices are in the basement and many farmers have to give up.
Anton Hofreiter, Chairman of the Greens in the Bundestag
You cultivation were recently in Brazil, in the Region of soy. How is the Situation there?
I was in Mato Grosso, which translated means “dense Bush”. It was formerly a rain forest area with indigenous small-scale farmers. Now, only pitiful Remnants of the forest and fields until the horizon. There are large landowners who grow to 200,000 to 300,000 hectares of genetically modified soy. The fields you edit with Totalherbidzid. All plant life is killed except the genetically modified soy, which is poison resistant to the Plants.
The extent of the destruction of the environment was oppressive, as well as people under pressure, and expelled to be threatened. People are even murdered by assassins of the large landowners. Affected told me how they have been threatened with death, and the gun was held to the head. Because the impact of our animal show the mast in a very concrete and horrible.
Feed for the animal factories: cultivation of genetically modified soy in Mato Grosso (Brazil). Previously, the rain forest was here.
How do you change that?
We want to meet responsibility in the supply chain: The imported soy to certain requirements. It can’t be that soy is obtained with the help of serious violations of human rights, small farmers and Indigenous from their lands to be sold and we will import this soy then to Europe.
So, with Standards for soy you want to improve the Situation?
Exactly. Minimum standards are of course also important in animal husbandry. Pigs should be in the barns, more space, and certain types of farming, and to abolish it. Fully slatted floors animal. There, pigs live only on slick, smooth concrete plates with cracks for the feces and can not dig.
Also, the use of antibiotics needs to be better regulated. For us humans, antibiotics are essential. For reserve antibiotics it should, therefore, be limitations in the animal stables.
In Germany, 830 million animals per year are fattened. Large farms have more than 10,000 pigs in the barn.
What is the role the Consumer plays?
The Consumer needs information to be able to decide. When meat labelling is useful – as is the case with the eggs. It says Yes on it, if the chickens are kept in cages, run around, and whether they get organic feed.
The direction In which agriculture should go?
We want a stronger regionalisation. And in the globalized production, we want more responsibility and more sustainability. A stronger regionalisation means that, for example, countries in West Africa, food can be sovereign. Currently, exports are subsidised from Europe, are therefore cheap – the result of this is that in West Africa, farmers go broke. You are no longer able to feed their own population. Impoverished farmers, then part of the dangerous trip through the Sahara and over the Mediterranean sea, in order to find their Livelihood. It is also the fight to escape causes – the real causes of Flight.
In organic farming, the animals live humanely. The feed comes from the farm itself.
How do you want to take this reversal of the trend, the German farmers?
In Parts of the agriculture, there is already a change in thinking. Many farmers do not see that the current System helps them. In the last few years, have been abandoned in some areas over 70 per cent of all farmers. Also, which are now still engaged in agriculture, often with his back to the wall. The dairy industry is an example: farmers get for a litre of milk only 20 cents, but the production costs are about 40 cents.
Dairy farmers have lost huge sums of money – in the last year, five billion Euro. Similarly, in the case of the pig fatteners, chicken farmers, in many areas it looks good. The profiteers are selling to large corporations such as Monsanto, pesticides and genetically modified seeds. The profiteers are chains of large meat companies, and large commercial. Many farmers are victims of this system. And that is why I am hopeful that you can-not all but a significant part of the farmers for a change to win.
Anton Hofreiter Chairman of the Greens in the Bundestag and a PhD biologist. He is an advocate for fair Agriculture and is to travelled to Brazil. His book “meat factory-companies for Germany” since the 13.6.2016 available in bookstores (Riemann Verlag).
The Interview was conducted by Gero Rueter.