British meat and dairy is destroying rainforests

I mean I don't agree with the point they are trying to put across about trying to grow animal feed within the UK. Growing animal feed itself is a wasteful practice. Why not encourage a move away from an animal based diet, then you could avoid eating GM-foods even indirectly through animals being fed GM-fodder, save vast tracks of land & loads of water as well. But the thought that people in the west generally are responsible for diminishing rainforests are the main reason I thought it was interesting to put up.

Quote :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/7900486/British-meat-and-dairy-is-destroying-rainforests.html


British meat and dairy is destroying rainforests
Huge swathes of rainforest are being destroyed every year to grow animal
feed for British factory farms, according to new research.


By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
20 Jul 2010


More than 350,000 hectares of rainforest, twice the size of the Yorkshire
Dales, is being chopped down to grow soy beans, most of which are
genetically modified (GM).

The animal feed is then imported to British factory farms to produce cheap
meat and dairy for supermarkets.

Friends of the Earth said that consumers are indirectly destroying the
rainforest by buying meat and dairy and urged people to switch to a more
vegetarian diet.

The charity pointed to new research by the Royal Agricultural College that
found if just eight per cent of agricultural land in the UK was used to
grow crops for animal feeds, it would be possible to halve the amount of
feed currently imported from South America.

Sandra Bell, Senior Food Campaigner at FOE, blamed the drive to produce
cheap meat for the growth in imported feed.

She urged the Government to support farmers in grazing more animals and
growing animal feed themselves rather than relying on GM animal feed from
abroad.

"Many people choose British milk and meat without realising that the
animals in our farms munch on feed produced by destroying wildlife and
rainforests in South America,” she said.

"Animals should be born, bred and fed British – but pressure from
supermarkets and biased EU subsidies force farmers to rely on damaging
imports.

"The Government must listen to growing calls for it to restore a thriving
meat and dairy sector by helping farmers switch to planet-friendly
practices."

However farmers insisted imported animal feed is an essential part of
producing affordable and nutritious meat and dairy in Britain.