Factory farming intensifies climate change, releasing vast volumes of greenhouse gases.
We now know that man-made climate change is real and that it poses a great threat to the planet and its inhabitants. Current data suggest that we need to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in developed countries by at least 80% by 2050 in order to have a chance of staying below an average temperature rise of over 2ºC1. Factory farming is a major contributor to the climate change challenge, releasing vast volumes of greenhouse gases.
A wide variety of sources of carbon dioxide
Factory farming produces greenhouse gases throughout the 'supply chain'; for example, forest clearance to grow the crops and rear the animals reduces vital carbon 'sinks' and releases gases previously stored in the soil and vegetation.
Factory-farmed beef requires twice as much fossil fuel energy input as pasture-reared beef.
Pimentel (2004)2
An energy-hungry industry
Factory farming also requires large amounts of energy in order to function. This isn't just to rear the animals, but also to grow the vast amounts of feed they need. According to a study published by The Royal Society3, feed is the dominant energy user, taking around 75% of the total energy required. The rest is needed for factors such as heating, lighting and ventilation.
Livestock farming accounts for around 18% of our global greenhouse gas emissions - more than the global transport sector.
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) (2006)4
But carbon dioxide isn't the only issue
It's not just carbon dioxide that's the problem - gases including methane and nitrous oxide are also produced in significant quantities, released through various sources including animal waste and fertiliser use. Livestock farming produces 37% and 65% of our global methane and nitrous oxide emissions respectively5. Both gases are much more potent than carbon dioxide.
Methane and nitrous oxide are 25 times and 298 times more potent than carbon dioxide respectively in terms of their potential to intensify global warming.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)6
Climate change will make farming harder
Climate change is already harming food production7 and these impacts are projected to increase over time, with potentially devastating effects. Higher temperatures, for example, could place further stress on water-scarce regions and make it harder to rear animals and grow food crops. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity8 climate change may affect plant growth and production by promoting the spread of pests and diseases, increasing exposure to heat stress and encouraging soil erosion due to stronger winds.
Added heat stress, shifting monsoons, and drier soils may reduce yields by as much as a third in the tropics and subtropics, where crops are already near their maximum heat tolerance.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (2001)9
But don't just take our word for it
…livestock emissions have not yet been addressed by global decision-making institutions.
World Bank (2009)10
Agriculture is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Higher temperatures eventually reduce yields of desirable crops while encouraging weed and pest proliferation. Changes in precipitation patterns increase the likelihood of short-run crop failures and long-run production declines. Although there will be gains in some crops in some regions of the world, the overall impacts of climate change on agriculture are expected to be negative, threatening global food security.
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) (2009)11
So what?
Factory farming intensifies climate change. By taking action against factory farming, we are not just creating a food and farming revolution; we are also tackling one of the world's greatest sustainability challenges.
How climate change and drought affects people in East Africa
The drought that ravaged East Africa in 2011 was reported by the BBC to be the worst in 60 years1. As the rains failed and the ground became parched, tens of thousands of families set-off in search of food and water for themselves and their livestock, struggling to find places that were better than where they had come from. The BBC reported that an estimated 100,000 people died from the famine caused by the drought. Severe weather events such as this are forecast to become more common as the effects of climate change worsen2. The farming of livestock, at the vast scale that factory farming allows, is a major contributor to climate change, causing 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions3.
'[O]ne woman, called Fatuma… had walked from her home in Somalia for a month and a half with her four children aged between three and 10 to reach a Kenyan camp. She said: "The weather was very harsh. It was so hot, and there was very little shelter. I left my husband in Somalia. I do not know if I will see him again… We had 15 goats. But they died one by one because of the drought. We had a well in my village, but it dried up. Then the one in the next village dried up."'
The Independent, 20114
'Hindiya is 10 years old... her father and siblings are on the move, wandering wherever they hear there might be water… By the time we caught up with them, they'd been walking for 17 days, almost nonstop... Eating is a luxury. Hindiya's family didn't have any food this morning, and they have nothing to eat tonight... Herders - like Hindiya's family - who used to settle down for six months at a time are now lucky if they can stay somewhere for a month. And in between settled stints there's hunger, poverty, dying livestock and walking, walking and more walking in search of water.'
CNN, 20115
''[U]nless something is done [to tackle climate change], the current suffering offers a grim foretaste of the future - temperatures in east Africa are going to rise and rainfall patterns will change, making a bad situation worse.'
The Guardian, 20066
Our sources
- BBC, 2011, Save the Children Says East Africa Appeal Best in History
- IPCC, 2007, Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- FAO, 2006, Livestock's Long Shadow
- The Independent, 2011, Starvation Returns to the Horn of Africa
- CNN, 2011, Three Stories From Africa's Drought
- The Guardian, 2011, Is Climate Change to Blame for Famine in the Horn of Africa?
Huge thanks to Oxfam East Africa for the image (cc)
Our sources
- The Royal Society (2010), Energy and the Food System
- European Commission (2011), Roadmap for Moving to a Low-Carbon Economy in 2050
- Pimental (2004), from The Organic Centre (2006), Impacts of Organic Farming on the Efficiency of Energy Use in Agriculture
- UNFAO (2006), Livestock's Long Shadow
- UNFAO (2006), Livestock's Long Shadow
- IPCC (2007), Climate Change 2007: Working Group I: The Physical Science Basis
- Nature (2011), Climate Change Curbs Crops
- CBD (2007), Biodiversity and Climate Change
- UNEP (2001), Climate Change Information Sheet
- World Bank (2009), Minding the Stock
- IFPRI (2009), Climate Change: Impact on Agriculture and Costs of Adaptation
Huge thanks to Oxfam East Africa for the image (cc)