$1m a minute: the farming subsidies destroying the world - report

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

$1m a minute: the farming subsidies destroying the world - report

‘Perverse’ payments must be redirected to measures such as capturing carbon, report says

Damian Carrington Environment editor
@dpcarrington
Mon 16 Sep 2019 05.00 BSTLast modified on Mon 16 Sep 2019 11.50 BST

The public is providing more than $1m per minute in global farm subsidies, much of which is driving the climate crisis and destruction of wildlife, according to a new report.

Just 1% of the $700bn (£560bn) a year given to farmers is used to benefit the environment, the analysis found. Much of the total instead promotes high-emission cattle production, forest destruction and pollution from the overuse of fertiliser.

The security of humanity is at risk without reform to these subsidies, a big reduction in meat eating in rich nations and other damaging uses of land, the report says. But redirecting the subsidies to storing carbon in soil, producing healthier food, cutting waste and growing trees is a huge opportunity, it says.

The report rejects the idea that subsidies are needed to supply cheap food. It found that the cost of the damage currently caused by agriculture is greater than the value of the food produced. New assessments in the report found producing healthy, sustainable food would actually cut food prices, as the condition of the land improves.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/16/1m-a-minute-the-farming-subsidies-destroying-the-world

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Related: Global Report 2019 (Food and Land Use Coalition)

[IndyOp]

1. Wow. I had no clue about the global scale for subsidies. (nt)

[NickB79]

2. People want meat. It's what our brains are programmed for

It's all well and good to talk about supplying healthy, sustainable, plant-based food for the masses, but every single nation that's seen it's GDP rise also sees it's meat consumption rise. We can't pretend like we're going to continue to lift people out of poverty while they keep eating the same food they ate while poor. Your diet is the first thing that changes when you get more money.

Unless we can address this on a global scale via plant-based meats, it's all empty talk. We'll eat meat until we can't afford it any longer, unless we have alternatives that replace it, environment be damned.