ANIMAL FEED INDUSTRY ACCUSED OF GREENWASH
Comment by GM-free Ireland
10 September 2009
www.gmfreeireland.org/news

FEFAC - the European Compound Feed Manufacturers' Federation released its first-ever Environment Report today:
http://www.fefac.org/file.pdf?FileID=22145&CacheMode=Fresh

The report is worth reading for the interesting data on the animal feed industry's responsibility for climate change and what seems like its genuine concern on this issue. But in a related article "European feed makers consider the environment" (see below), FEFAC President Pedro Corrêa de Barros reveals a collossal degree of scientific ignorance by claiming that "intensive livestock production systems based on efficient compound feed supply" are "ecological". His idea of "efficient compound feed supply" is code for GM monoculture plantations that have devastating ecological and social impacts in the producing countries. The report itself boasts that FEFAC is a member of the controversial Round Table on Responsible Soy, which promotes GM soy from the Amazon basin, and claims that "1st generation biofuel production generates valuable products for feed use... and the EU feed industry is prepared to use them."

Could FEFAC be trying to greenwash itself in the lead-up to the UN Summit on Climate Change on 22 September and the UN Climate Change Conference in December? http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/climatechange/gateway

FEFAC and COCERAL are the two biggest animal feed industry lobby groups in Brussels. Their members operate as a cartel with a virtual monopoly in some EU member states including Ireland and the UK, where they promote GM feed while making it difficult or impossible for farmers to source Non-GM feedstuffs that are widely available in other member states:

FEFAC (http://www.fefac.org) claims to be "the only independent spokesman of the European compound feed industry" at the level of the European institutions, and holds observer status at CODEX Alimentarius. It consists of 21 national full-member associations in 20 EU Member States (including the Irish Grain and Feed Association), as well as observer/associate members in Switzerland, Turkey, Norway and Croatia."

COCERAL (http://www.coceral.com) claims to be "the voice representing the European cereals, rice, feedstuffs, oilseeds, olive oil, oils and fats and agrosupply trade. Its members include the national trade organisations of most of the EU-27 Member States, who for their part represent collectors, distributors, exporters, importers and agribulk storers of the above-mentioned commodities."

FEFAC and COCERAL are strong supporters of the agri-biotech industry. In May 2008, they co-funded a report entitled "Economic impacts of low level presence of not yet approved GMOs on the EU food sector" (http://www.agindustries.org.uk/document.aspx?fn=load&media_id=3118&publicationId=396). This was written by Graham Brookes, a Director of PG Economics, which brings out regular reports commissioned by the biotech industry claiming extraordinary successes with GM crops. The company receives funding from pro-GM trade associations including CropLife International and Green Biotech Europe. The titles of PG Economics reports such as "GM and non GM arable crops can co-exist in the EU without problems" and "Coexistence thought possible for maize in Spain" - are claims that are totally disproved by the widespread contamination that has already occured in Spain. For more on Graham Brookes see his GM Watch SpinProfile at http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/PG_Economics

FEFAC and COCERAL are currently waging a disinformation campaign to push untested GM animal feed from the USA on farmers in Ireland and other EU member states. The campaign uses scaremongering techniques and false claims to argue that the EU's "zero tolerance" food safety policy for contamination of the supply chain with unapproved GM animal feed may soon create a catastrophic shortage of animal feed that could "drive EU livestock farmers and feed operators out of business". Their campaign is implemented locally in Ireland via two of their members, the Irish Grain and Feed Association (IGFA) and the Northern Irish Grain and Feed Trade Association (NIGTA).

In April 2009, FEFAC's "Key Facts" newsletter forecasted a reduction in demand for GM animal feed across the EU with "a sharp decrease in demand for ruminant feed, in particular dairy feed, of up to -10% on an EU-wide average∑ mainly due to the very low market price for milk" and for pig feed "a reduction of up to -5% on an EU-wide average in 2009": http://www.gmfreeireland.org/feed/FEFAC/Fefax-14.08.2009.pdf

But on 8 June 2009, FEFAC contradicted its own forecast in a press release entitled "EU feed prices may rise due to EU zero-tolerance on not yet authorised GM plants" fears FEFAC President Pedro Correa de Barros": http://www.fefac.org/news.aspx?EntryID=6243.

The following day, 9 June, Deirdre Webb, the Director of the Irish Grain and Feed Association wrote to Ireland's Minister of Agriculture Brendan Smith accusing him of "inflicting very real damage" on the feed cartel by refusing to vote in favour of its call to scrap the EU's "zero tolerance" policy at the EU Council of Ministers, adding that this has a "devastating effect" on the industry and that Ireland has "no other credible protein source" for animal feed including "conventional, organic and even GM free lines" - even though tens of millions of tonnes of GM-free soy beans are grown in Brazil, India, China and the USA! http://www.gmfreeireland.org/feed/gov/MinisterSmithJuly09.pdf

Expect FEFAC to keep pushing two of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions - GM crops and intensive agriculture - at the UN Climate Change Summit and the Climate Change Conference.
...
EUROPEAN FEED MAKERS CONSIDER THE ENVIRONMENT
AllAboutFeed.net, 10 September 2009
http://www.allaboutfeed.net/news/european-feed-makers-consider-the-environment-3579.html