1jjtwKx

direct subsidies for animal products and feedIndustrialized countries (OECD members), estimates for 2012, in billion dollarsOECD1.5eggs18.0beef and veal7.3pigmeat2.3soybeanspoultrymilk15.36.51.1sheepIn China, the immediate costs of over-fertilizationare estimated at 4.5 billion dollars a year,mainly because water quality suffers from intensivelivestock production. The main problemis that in rapidly developing areas of East Asia,farmers and agricultural firms are replacing thetraditional organic fertilizers – manure and faeces– with synthetic nitrogen. Manure, which usedto be considered the best type of fertilizer in integratedfarming, now has to be disposed of somehow– in a river, on a dump, or trucked to where itcan be used. To ensure the highest yields, the fieldsare fertilized with commercial agrochemicalscontaining readily soluble nutrients as well. Thisresults in a double burden on the environment.Cheap meat is made possible only by polluting theenvironment.The other big unknown in the real price ofmeat are subsidies using public funds. A packageof subsidies may consist of many different components.The European Union offers subsidies forfodder crops and supports up to 40 percent of thecost of investing in new animal housing. A crisisfund, set up in 2013, can be used to support factoryfarms, for example to support the export of meatand milk powder.Further burdens are heaped onto nationaltaxpayers. They pay for the costs of transport infrastructure,such as ports needed to handle thefeed trade. In many countries, meat is subject to areduced level of value added tax. In addition, lowwages in abattoirs make it possible to producemeat cheaply. From a political point of view, lowwages can be seen as subsidies because companiesMEaT aTlaScan pay so little only if the state does not impose astatutory minimum wage.Few poor countries can subsidize their farmersin this way. Instead, they tend to support themthrough laws that permit the exploitation ofpeople and the environment. To remain thecheapest suppliers of feed or meat in the worldmarket, governments allow workers to toilin slave-like conditions and for little pay, theylease government land to large-scale producersat cheap rates, and they fail to act against loggerswho clear areas of land for ranchers to occupy.Farmers’ income from public moneyIndustrialized countries (OECD members), percentage of gross farm receipts,by animal product504030201001995–972010–12beef, veal pigs poultry sheep milkPoor countriessupport theindustry throughweak laws andlax controlseggsOECD21