[machine translation]
Since September 2013, the Confederation Paysanne fights against the mad project of factory
farm 1,000 cows in the Somme. Michel Ramery, its founder, plans to use animals for
anaerobic digestion ... and possibly milk. ---- With the factory farm cows 1000, its
founder, Michel Ramery, is far from the small farm in dairy production. The goal is to put
1,000 cows building and acquire 3,000 hectares of land for an operating license. With
three milkings per day, he plans to produce 9 million liters per year. Thanks to gains in
its giant digester, he was ready to sell the milk to 270 euros per ton while the market
price is around 350 euros. Such policies will necessarily lead to lower prices and create
difficulties for small farms. It does not have to worry because his project is a real
money pump. All confused, it would affect 4 million state aid per year.
The industrialization of agriculture implies concentration of the means of production,
livestock by hectare, building, labor and financial resources. The future would be huge
farms in near monoproduction (we lose diversity necessarily) run by financial groups.
Destruction of the food economy
We import raw materials and surplus that we will sell at low prices, especially in
so-called developing countries are exported. Destruction of the subsistence economy for
them, rural depopulation and destruction of small farming here. Produce more does not feed
the world, it creates famines! Liberalization already leading the way. The end of milk
quotas [ 1 ] anticipates the agricultural disaster ahead. According to some forecasts, we
would spend 78 000 dairy farms in 2011 to some 25,000 in 2035.
To be nutritionally independent, it takes many farms that can provide a varied diet rich
in employment. The factory farm 1,000 cows replaces twenty farms fifty cows (French
average) and forty-two jobs when she hires a dozen people for the livestock industry. With
the many frauds and irregularities which it is subject, this project would never have come
into being. But, contrary to what the government may say, the draft Ramery collects strong
political support.
Say no to industrial agriculture
The only government response to the planned demise of the peasants, is repression.
Following action by the Peasant Confederation on the site of the factory farm, five union
activists were arrested and taken into custody. Their trial will be held October 28 in
Amiens and the farmers' union does not intend to be buried alive. Then, on Oct. 28, all to
Amiens to say no to union repression and industrial agriculture! Georges Claas (AL Var) 1
Milk quotas limit the volume of production per farm to keep prices and avoid the race to
the concentration and expansion of farms.
George Claas (AL Var)
[ 1 ] Milk quotas limit the volume of production per farm to keep prices and avoid the
race to the concentration and expansion of farms
