• Grazing and pasture

Grazing systems and pasture condition

This paper explores developments in the global livestock industry and their impact on smallholder farmers and the environment in developing countries. In particular, it considers the effect of free trade agreements, government policy, industrial companies and the technological revolution in fields like genetics.

The author argues that in the global livestock industry, company takeovers and cooperation agreements are proliferating, and technology is changing fast. Patents for genetic material are multiplying, and other proprietary strategies are also being pursued. Comparing these developments to what has happened to the global seed market, she argues that the breeding sector – now renamed “livestock genetics” – is becoming the nerve centre of the industry and extending its control over livestock farming. Quick to seize the opportunity, agro-giants such as Monsanto are moving in.

The paper highlights several negative impacts of this concentration, including:

•  hundreds of thousands of small farmers are tied into production contracts mainly for the export market
• increased risk of more diseases, more deadly types of disease, and more capacity for these diseases to spread
• traditional cultures dependent on livestock are being further marginalised

In light of these concerns, the paper recommends the following:

• a new approach to breeding should be taken which broadens the genetic base for industrial breeds
• society must consider the hidden public costs of increased livestock production
• no patents on animals or on genes should be allowed
• subsidies for industrial livestock production should be abolished.

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