Crackdown on EU’s intensive animal farming

Pig farmers are standing by for details of expected EU measures to restrict their activities, after Janusz Wojciechowski, the EU’s agriculture commissioner, said, “As part of the Green Deal, it will be necessary to address the problem of intensive pig farming in some EU countries, because agriculture has to be sustainable.”

Wojciechowski, from Poland, who succeeded Ireland’s Phil Hogan as agriculture commissioner, wants to crack down on the environmental impact of intensive animal farming.

His policy gels with the European Commission’s Green Deal, the proposed package of measures which commits the EU to become the first climate-neutral bloc in the world by 2050.

The Green Deal is designed to enable European citizens and businesses to benefit from a sustainable green transition.

It includes a Farm to Fork Strategy for affordable and sustainable food.

The agriculture commissioner hinted at what countries might be affected, if he goes through with measures against intensive animal farming.

He said in France, Italy and Poland, there are less than 80 pigs farmed per 100 hectares of utilised agricultural land, but this rises to 452, 473, and 690, in Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, respectively.

Livestock farmers are also worried about Commissioner Wojciechowski‘s plans for intensive cattle farms.

Citing figures for cattle farming, he said the number of cattle per 100 hectares of agricultural land reaches only 43, 47, 59 and 67 on average in Poland, Italy, Denmark and France.

But in Belgium and the Netherlands, the numbers exceed 170.

He did not mention Ireland, although the region with more cattle than any other in the EU is Carlow, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, and Wexford.

However, the environmental spotlight is instead on regions with predominately indoor livestock farming.