The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is “pumping cash” into heavily polluting livestock farms, a study commissioned by the NGO Greenpeace claims. With the debate on the budget in full swing, Greenpeace calls for the CAP to support the environment and not intensification and larger farms.
Greenpeace compared the funding allocated to CAP beneficiaries with the registers by farm of ammonia emissions (the only pollutant monitored at farm level).
The investigation shows that, of the 2,374 farms in seven EU countries emitting high levels of ammonia, 1,209 (51%) received CAP payments totalling at least €104 million per year.
Ammonia runoff from fertilisers or manure slurry leads to the rapid growth of algae in rivers, lakes and seas, choking plants and animals of oxygen, Greenpeace states. Ammonia also causes air pollution from fine particulate matter, which impacts human health.
CAP aid must be capped, Greenpeace argues, to bring a halt to the race towards ever larger farms and intensification. The aid must be made conditional on the number of people working and the number of animals per hectare for real transition to be made possible, Greenpeace says. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)