Consumers do not need to give up meat to help combat climate change, the founder of Extinction Rebellion Farmers group has said.
Instead shoppers should choose local, sustainably-produced food over imports, Sarah Shuffell claimed.
In August, UN experts said high consumption of animal produce in the West was fuelling global warming.
Ms Shuffell said climate change talks often lumped in small farmers with intensive, large-scale producers.
She decided to set up the XR Farmers group after becoming “fed up of farmers being bashed and blamed left, right and centre” for global warming.
The group describes itself as “crop and livestock farmers who are pressing government to restore biodiversity and achieve net zero greenhouse gases”.
‘INTENSIVELY GROWN VEGETABLES WON’T SAVE THE PLANET’
Ms Shuffell, who lives near Brecon in Powys, Wales, claimed it was industrial-scale, environmentally damaging farm practices in places such as the US that had led to calls for people to give up meat entirely – and Welsh farmers were well-placed to help tackle the problem.
“It’s not as simple as saying ‘meat bad, plants good’ – it depends on your system. Intensively grown vegetables with high amounts of fertilisers and pesticides won’t save the planet.
“We need to be thinking about where our food comes from and valuing what we grow in this country. Instead of importing food, we should become more sustainable and self-sufficient.”
Read more : https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-51190051