Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming, has spent three years investigating the hidden cost of cheap meat and the devastating impact of factory farming on people, animals and our planet. His new book, out this week, Farmageddon, was written with political journalist Isabel Oakeshott, and exposes the threat Britain faces of a new wave of US-style industrial farming that would spell the end of the British countryside as we know it.
At a special Parliamentary reception, hosted by Zac Goldsmith MP on Monday, Philip briefed the guests and called for Government action to support farming that takes animals from factory farms and puts them back on the land.
Britain is already facing a situation where the countryside is becoming a green desert for wildlife. Studies point towards the intensification of farming as a key cause:
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Farmland breeding birds have dropped by half since 1970.
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Farmland butterflies have declined by more than 40 per cent in the past 10 years.
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Several species of bee are in trouble and could become extinct within a short time.
Zac Goldsmith MP, said: “This exceptional book lays bare the threats we face in this country posed by industrial factory farming, not only to wildlife, but to rural livelihoods and our health. It blows apart the myth of cheap food, and provides real and workable alternatives that can feed the world without costing the earth.”