The following article is a timeless dossier, published – in Italian – in July 2022 on Zootecnica International.
Intensive/protected farming and Avian Influenza
If even 1% of the accusations animal rights groups have been spreading for decades about intensive/protected poultry farming (and elsewhere) were true, we would have to ask ourselves why European and Italian institutions still allow such activities to continue. The answer is simple: because the laws governing poultry production are, in the vast majority of cases, fully respected throughout the country.
Pietro Greppi – Communications Ethics Consultant – info@ad-just.it
In Italy, there are numerous laws regulating the entire poultry production chain, the welfare of farmed animals, farm hygiene, disease prevention, and the wholesomeness of the food produced.
The authorities responsible for control (local health authority veterinarians, NAS Carabinieri) monitor, through audits, inspections, and sampling, with the aim of ensuring that products comply with legislative requirements, that is, they conform to the qualitative, organoleptic, and health standards that European and Italian legislators expect for consumers.
European food quality standards are the highest in the world. For this very reason, any third country wishing to export food products to the European Union must comply with more stringent regulations and adopt a dual production system within its own territory.
One of the pillars supporting the new European food quality strategy, ” From Farm to Fork, ” is protecting the health and welfare of farmed animals through disease prevention. And a key aspect of the laws regulating this aspect concerns avian influenza.
Animal rights groups are notorious for their attempts to make people believe that infectious diseases affecting domestic poultry are caused by intensive/protected farming. Reality shows that the opposite is true. It is precisely these farms that, by implementing appropriate prevention and eradication plans for the main viral, bacterial, and parasitic diseases, are able to ensure the highest levels of animal health, which translates into improved food safety and quality for consumers.
Nowadays, a farmer, by implementing good structural and management production practices, can be reasonably certain of completing the production cycle with 97-98% of the chickens he initially brought in. In the past, on rural farms and on farms, average animal mortality was extremely high due to the inability to implement adequate preventative measures for the main avian diseases.
The stories passed down from generations before us paint a portrait of a poor society, in which family incomes were used primarily to meet food needs. In those days, poultry diseases were a disaster, leaving entire communities without sustenance.
Advances in poultry genetics have allowed modern generations in developed countries to have easier access to food. Nowadays, animals’ diets are balanced, their well-being is respected, and diseases are controlled through hygiene, vaccinations, and, most importantly, the absence of antibiotics (contrary to the claims of those who smear poultry farming): in 2021, 90% fewer antibiotics were used in broiler chicken farming in Italy than in 2011. Furthermore, thanks to the production capacity and efficiency of intensive/protected farms, the price of poultry products has remained virtually constant over the last century, contributing, along with rising average wages, to increased purchasing power and living standards in developed countries.
Chart 1, prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (USA) covers a time span of just over a century and highlights the quantity of animal products that can be purchased with the proceeds of an hour’s work at an average wage. This quantity has increased exponentially since these foods were produced on intensive/protected farms, and of those analyzed, eggs are by far the cheapest and most nutritious.
In developing countries, where protected livestock farming is not yet widespread, the nutritional deficiencies described in the 19th century are unfortunately still partially present. For this reason, in 2019, the FAO signed an agreement with the International Poultry Organization ( IPO). Council , an association representing 95% of poultry producers globally, to increasingly promote sustainable poultry production worldwide, capable of meeting the nutritional needs of the growing world population. Accusations of epidemics leveled by animal rights groups against intensive poultry farming are therefore refuted by the facts. Furthermore, it is scientifically proven that the causes of Avian Influenza are attributable to the migratory flows of wild birds.
The 15 million animals culled in early 2022 to control this epidemic in Italy are a small number compared to Italy’s annual poultry production (15 million represents less than 2% of Italy’s total). Past epidemics on rural farms often killed all the animals raised.
Currently, niche poultry products, organic or slow-growing productions, which monopolize communication on television programs, have high prices and can satisfy consumers who have no economic problems, but we are all deeply aware of the moral duty to be able to feed, with healthy, nutritious and low-cost foods, even that part of society that struggles to make ends meet.
The extraordinary result of having high-quality food at prices accessible to all is achieved only and exclusively thanks to the production efficiency of intensive/protected farms, which for this reason are also more sustainable: the studies carried out by Global Livestock Environmental The FAO Global Livestock Assessment Model (GLEAM), which analyzes the environmental impact of livestock production, has shown that for the same amount of feed produced, intensive/protected poultry farms, thanks to the great production efficiency achieved, pollute less and their greenhouse gas emissions, already reduced to 1% of the total, are continuously decreasing.
In poultry farming, extensive, free-range, slow-growth farming methods have coexisted side by side for decades with intensive/protected production, and they are not mutually exclusive. The former command higher sales prices and appeal to high-end consumers (in terms of spending power), while the latter meet the nutritional needs of the less well-off, who constitute the majority. The difference between these two types of farming is a bit like that between mountain trails and highways: the former are beautiful to look at, but to transport goods and advance a nation’s economy, we cannot ignore the latter. To improve the quality of life of future generations, the solution will not be to eliminate highways, but rather to minimize their impact through improvements.
Animal rights groups easily achieve their goal of discrediting an important production sector, partly because a significant gap has grown between the average consumer and the farming industry. European Union opinion polls show that the majority of citizens are convinced that animals are mistreated on farms, even though they have never actually been on one.
If we were to visit a state-of-the-art intensive farm, we could verify that, thanks to new technologies, it produces no odors, does not emit dust, and with the manure drying methods, does not encourage the proliferation of flies or other insects.
Manure is increasingly used for biogas production, thus avoiding groundwater pollution and eutrophication. Furthermore, the visual environmental impact of new livestock farms is greatly reduced by planting vegetal barriers.
The time has come to better understand intensive/protected livestock farming to gain a complete and accurate understanding of their operations, their social and vital function, and to avoid giving in to misinformation from those who spread distorted and exploitative news.
