Crops going to animals, not people

SWATHES of the UK’S agricultural land is used to grow cereal crops to feed farm animals instead of people in an “inherently inefficient” process, wildlife charity WWF said.

The conservation organisation is calling for a transformation of the UK’S food system, which it says fuels climate change.

A report from WWF said 40 per cent of productive arable land in the UK – some two million hectares – was being used to grow wheat and barley to feed farm animals.

Half the country’s wheat harvest goes to feeding livestock, mostly chickens and pigs, and would be enough to produce nearly 11 billion loaves of bread, it said. The UK also imports large quantities of soy to feed pigs and poultry, relying on 850,000 hectares of land abroad to grow the crops, which contributes to the destruction of natural habitats.

Dairy, egg and meat products provide only a third of the calories consumed in the UK and just under half the population’s intake of protein, despite livestock, grazing land and crops for animal feed taking up 85 per cent of UK farmland, WWF said. The report says replacing animal feeds with alternatives including food waste or insects could free up land to grow food for people.

Poultry can even be incorporated in a pasture-based system, where food is replaced by foraged vegetation, nuts, berries, insects and slugs. This approach would require a reduction in overall numbers of livestock, it acknowledges, but said cows and sheep, which are largely fed on grazing pastures, could be a key part of a wildlife-friendly farming system as livestock can play an important role in fertilising the soil, through manure, and use grazing land where it is not possible to grow crops at scale.