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Food is a necessity, an art, an indulgence.But the global system for producing food isbroken. While people in some parts of theworld do not have enough to eat, others sufferfrom obesity. Millions of tonnes of food are wastedand thrown away, and perversely, crops are convertedinto biofuels to feed cars in Europe and theAmericas.At the same time, the natural world uponwhich we all depend is being damaged and destroyed.Ecological limits are being stretched asour demand for ever more resources takes precedenceover the need to protect biodiversity andthe Earth’s vital ecosystems. Forests and precioushabitats are being cleared to make way for vastmonocultures to supply industrialized countries.Farming is being intensified and wildlife wipedout at unprecedented rates.Over the past 50 years, the global food systemhas become heavily dependent oncheap resources, chemical sprays anddrugs. It is increasingly controlled by a handful ofmultinational corporations. The social impacts ofthis system are devastating: small-scale farmersworldwide are driven off their land, both obesityand food poverty are rife, and taxpayers and citizensare increasingly footing the bill for one foodcrisis after another. In this corporate-controlledfood system, profits always come before peopleand planet.Nothing epitomizes what is wrong with ourfood and farming more than the livestock sectorand the quest for cheap and plentiful meat. Manyof the world’s health pandemics in the past yearshave stemmed from factory farms. Livestock raisingis one of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters,and is responsible for the use of huge amounts ofthe world’s grain and water. Worldwide, livestockare increasingly raised in cruel, cramped conditions,where animals spend their short lives underartificial light, pumped full of antibiotics andgrowth hormones, until the day they are slaughtered.What is truly scandalous is that it doesn’t haveto be like this. We produce enough calories in theworld to feed everyone, even with an increasingglobal population. We know how to farm withoutdestroying the environment and without imposingcruel conditions on the animals we breed,without corporate-owned and controlled seedsand chemicals. Sustainable farming exists inwhich farmers produce meat and dairy productsfrom numerous smaller farms, grow their owncrops to feed their animals, and allow animals tograze freely.There are millions of local markets, and numeroussmall, innovative food companies. Thereis huge public support for sustainable farming:people are building an alternative global food systemthat is based on food sovereignty, and ensureseveryone’s right to safe, nutritious, sustainableand culturally appropriate food.There is increasing international recognitionthat the current industrialized and corporate-ledsystem is unsustainable and doomed to fail. Weneed a radical overhaul of food and farming if wewant to feed a growing world population withoutdestroying the planet. This system needs to havefood sovereignty at its heart.This publication sheds light on the impactsof meat and dairy production, and aims tocatalyse the debate over the need for better,safer and more sustainable food and farming. Wehope to inspire people to look at their own consumption,and politicians at all levels to take actionto support those farmers, processors, retailersand networks who are working to achieve change.As a species, we need to be smarter. It is time toacknowledge that the corporate-controlled foodsystem is broken. It is time to curtail the power ofthose vested interests that want to keep it. Revolutionizingthe way we produce and consume meatis just the start. We need to create a world wherewe use natural resources in a more efficient way.We need to ensure these resources are fairly distributed,and that everyone on this planet, bothtoday and tomorrow, has access to safe, sufficient,sustainable and nutritious food.Magda StoczkiewiczDirector, Friends of the Earth Europe„Catalyzing the debateThe current industrialized andcorporate-led system is doomedto fail. We need a radical overhaul offood and farming if we want to feed agrowing world population withoutdestroying the planet.MEAT ATLAS7