Farming groups unite in open letter to defend animal agriculture amid pandemic

Responding, Ms Batters echoed this and highlighted livestock production is a regulated, monitored system, with high food safety standards and public health at its core.

She said: “The very safety and availability of the products [we have seen flying off the shelves, for example, milk and eggs] is down to farmers’ commitment to rigorous animal health and welfare standards, which makes the claim that modern agriculture is to blame for the outbreak both nonsensical and scientifically unsupported.

“While there are overlaps between human and animal health, including livestock, almost three quarters of emerging animal-borne diseases originate from wildlife, not farmed animals.”

Disease control

As part of a sustained effort to strengthen disease management and control, the letter urged authorities, intergovernmental groups and NGOs to reaffirm the safety of livestock production.

The demands also included the refutation of misinformation that actively attempted to ‘manufacture a link between livestock and the spread of Covid-19’, and to consult livestock experts, including farmers and other stakeholders in the food chain, to understand how to aid their efforts to feed communities.

Thanking

Ms Batters added: “Even as Covid-19 leaves food systems in disarray…farmers continue their work regardless, to ensure Britain does not go hungry.

“We must not turn our backs on farmers, especially not now, when we should be thanking them more than ever.”

You can read Ms Batter’s defence of animal agriculture in her recent blog post, here.