Commenting on European Commission proposals released on Thursday, November 18, 2010 on the future of European farming policy, Friends of the Earth food campaigner Kirtana Chandrasekaran said: "The Commission is right to recognise the need to tackle the damaging impacts of European farming and the problems caused by our dependence on overseas sources of protein to feed our animals.
"European farming practices are devouring the planet - they must be completely overhauled to protect the climate and wildlife here and around the world.
"Our reliance on imported soy animal feed is fuelling our factory farms, and this is a major cause of deforestation, carbon emissions and loss of wildlife, especially in South America.
"Last week, the UK Government promised to make our meat and dairy industry greener - it must play its part in farming reform by shifting the £700 million taxpayer-funded factory farm hand-out to planet-friendly food production."
Source: Friends of the Earth
