Intensive farming "trashing" world's rainforests

Intensive farming for the global food industry is "trashing" the world's rainforests, it has been claimed.

Rainforest being "trashed" by intensive farming

Writing for the Yorkshire Post, Vicki Hurd insisted that British consumers need to be buying meat which is raised in this country, in order to help reduce the devastating rainforest clearing which often takes place to make room for huge cattle ranches in the Amazon.

However, she noted that this could be difficult for shoppers - as an "EU loophole" means that some products can be labelled as British even if the animals are not raised in the UK.

"Intensive farming is trashing precious rain forests. By cutting down the Earth's lungs, we're releasing frightening quantities of carbon dioxide and pushing further and further towards dangerous climate change," Ms Hurd went on to explain.

Part of the problem is the lack of market and support for farmers to grow animal feed in the UK, which also leads to crops being grown in tropical forests, she noted.

According to figures from Monga Bay 600,000, kilometres of Amazon rainforest have been cleared over the past 40 years.

Written by Helen Montag. ADNFCR-2073-ID-19671474-ADNFCR