It calls for "reducing our production and consumption volumes". The environmental NGO Greenpeace on Tuesday opposed the construction or expansion of livestock "factory farms", concentrated in western France, denouncing a system that "pushes the limits of what is possible to the detriment of animal welfare and the protection of the planet".
Based on data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Greenpeace has identified in a mapping some 3,000 "factory farms" in France (out of 145,000 farms specializing in livestock), mainly poultry and pigs. Two-thirds are concentrated in the Brittany and Pays de la Loire regions. "The results are staggering," the association commented on Twitter, indicating that "60% of livestock are concentrated in 3% of livestock farms".
đ˘Today we are releasing a map of factory farms in France.
The results are staggering>>> 60% of farm animals are concentrated in 3% of livestockđ¨
farms Factory farming is leading us straight into the wall.
Here's what's happening and why it's dangerous đ pic.twitter.com/YNBU5LwvGP
â Greenpeace France (@greenpeacefr) May 16, 2023
The NGO places under the name "factory farm" the farms that must be the subject of an authorization from the State services because of their potential impact (facilities classified for the protection of the environment - ICPE - and those still subject to authorization). They have more than 750 sites for sows, more than 40,000 for poultry, more than 400 for dairy cows...
"Scourge"
The association defends the need to raise (and therefore eat) animals "for the balance of agriculture and society in general", livestock droppings used as fertilizer for crops. But it calls on the authorities to recognize "the need to reduce our production and consumption volumes". Factory farming is a "scourge" for animals, "crammed into buildings, without respect for their natural behavior, nor their well-being", but also for the environment, for our health, or for farmers, says the association.
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In addition to a moratorium on ICPEs, Greenpeace is advocating for regional quotas to reduce the concentration of production in western France. In Brittany, where its factory farms are particularly concentrated, "the concentration of nitrate in the water and ammonia emissions into the air are abnormally high. This results in serious pollution such as the proliferation of green algae or the emission of harmful fine particles into the atmosphere," notes the association.
"Insufficient" means of control
Greenpeace had published a similar map in 2018, before withdrawing it and apologizing: the data provided at the time by the ministry was partially erroneous "since some farms were presented as being subject to authorization, while they were well below the thresholds indicated to be so classified," the association later explained.
The state is still unable to provide precise figures on livestock ICPEs subject to authorization, Greenpeace said. "This is very worrying because it illustrates how the means in terms of administration and control of these ICPEs are largely insufficient in relation to the issues," said Suzanne Dalle, Agriculture Campaigner of the NGO.
Greenpeace refrains this time from mentioning the names of the farmers in its map, but gives the examples of a farm in the Oise which includes "more than a million laying hens" and a pig farm of nearly 21,000 head in Finistère (pregnant or lactating sows, piglets, fattening pigs).