We recently visited Forty Hall Farm in London Borough of Enfield where we met with Farm Manager, Angelika Hauses. The farm is about an hour from Central London and it is truly a beautiful place. We were shown around and got to meet Wilma, a very curious Tamworth pig.
Forty Hall Farm has pigs, cows and sheep as well as orchards, a vineyard and annual crops. The surroundings are beautiful and observing the breadth of their knowledge and expertise is awe inspiring. At Farm Direct we sell a lovely range of their organic beef and pork. One of the great things about buying British meat is that the UK has excellent animal welfare regulations. Dealing with regulatory frameworks is not everyone’s cup of tea, but these regulations aren't just red tape to Angelika Hauses, who manages the farm at Forty Hall. Animal welfare clearly comes first. After spending an afternoon at Forty Hall we are completely won over by the care, respect and love they have for their animals.
When we first arrive we are a bit early for our appointment and have to wait while a group of students are being taught in the barns. They seem so at ease around the animals it would be hard to tell the teacher from the student if it wasn’t for their age. Everyone is engaged and busy. It seems the only way forward here is learning by doing.
Forty Hall Farm is a commercial farm, but it is also a place of education, where knowledge is passed on to a new generation of British Farmers. We can tell that the students, like their teachers, are passionate about animals. They call them by name and speak to them in a gentle and confident tone that inspires willing cooperation. One cow did not seem too keen on being photographed. She got her way. Another was happy to perform a grazing pose for us with two of the students while we snapped some pictures.
Next, Angelika gives us a warm welcome and tells us about the importance of the work they do with the students from Capel Manor College before taking us to see the fields and the pigs. She stresses that although she manages the farm, its success is a result of a collective effort. We are walking down a little path surrounded by trees and suddenly Angelika stops us and points up ahead. A flock of sheep have noticed us. They are a rare breed from the outer Hebrides. They look up for a second and run off down the path into the woodlands. Most of the sheep are in flock but they take turns to roam freely. We are being followed down the path by Wilma, a Tamworth pig, who just won't leave Angelika alone. Our day trip is starting to feel more like an exotic British safari than a trip to a farm. This is a place you would want to spend time, throw a blanket down and have a picnic. Life on this farm is indeed excellent for the animals, and it must be an absolute pleasure to work here as well.
Unfortunately, this kind of farm is under threat. There has been a lot of talk about the government’s new trade deal that will allow tariff free import of meat into the UK. To some it might seem like a good dose of competition, but the problem is not just the price. The problems as Angelika later explains have a lot to do with the environment we live in and the type of farming that this trade deal will encourage.
So we put the question straight to Angelika, why is importing meat from Australia bad? It has to do with the scale and intensity of industrial farms in Australia and other countries abroad. Here is how she explained it.
Feedlots is a type of animal feeding operation which is used in intensive animal farming mostly involving cattle. This system is used in countries with poor grass growth due to heat and overgrazing. Large numbers of cattle are kept in pens and fed specifically formulated rations of fodder containing grains such as corn, barley, wheat, soya, hay and silage. As the animals are contained they do not move around much and put on weight quickly. Being penned up at close range means that diseases can spread more easily and in many systems, such as in the USA and Australia, antibiotics are added routinely to the feed rations to avoid outbreaks.
Although herbivores like cattle can find their own food, these systems maximise space by penning up the cattle and providing food for them. The food is grown, harvested and transported in intensity-farmed fields using machine power, irrigation and pesticides. The large amount of faeces are kept in ‘slurry lagoons’ causing soil and air pollution.
Feedlots are very stressful for animals. They are in close proximity to many of their own age groups with no escape. They can not graze or check out their surroundings or go for a snooze somewhere away from everyone. They can not choose what to eat or find shelter.
Feedlots are solely designed to maximise daily weight gains with no regard for the animal’s natural behaviour, feeding patterns or social structures.
Australia may soon be able to import tariff free beef to the UK. This means that the meat will arrive produced to Australian standards and sold at the price they can manage to produce it.
Australia’s biggest feedlot produces 200,000 heads of cattle a year, using growth hormones and routine antibiotics. This one company produces the equivalent of 7% of the UK’s beef consumption. Farming animals on this scale and pushing them this hard means that the beef produced is probably half the price of UK beef which will price British farmers out of the market.
Most beef in the UK is based on permanent pastures in parts of the country that are most suitable for grazing. The average farm will produce between 30-80 heads of cattle and sell throughout the year to either butchers or supermarkets. Ideally the cattle will sustain hedges and wildlife around them as the permanent pasture requires little import compared to arable feed production. Many of the landscapes in Britain are shaped by a pastoral lifestyle and have produced meat for many centuries.
So it is not only the environment that is under threat. It is the livelihood and century old traditions of farmers who live with and care for the animals they raise and the land they work on.
On the positive side, consumer reports show that the vast majority of UK consumers agree that we should maintain British food standards. In fact, a consumer report conducted by Which? found that 95% of UK consumers support maintaining existing food standards. And last year more than 2.65 million consumers signed petitions to put a stop to the trade deal which would put British food standards in jeopardy. Excellent!
On the not so bright side, it looks at the moment like the trade deal will be going through anyway. Farmers like Angelika are concerned and we at Farm Direct are concerned. We have worked with exclusively British farmers for 10+ years now. Not because we like British Farmers better than other farmers, but because it is the sensible and sustainable way forward to grow our vegetables and raise our animals close to where we buy them. As Angelika says so succinctly, “Destroying local agriculture and shipping beef halfway around the world is not the right way to look at a sustainable future.”
What can you do to help?
It’s not always obvious what we as consumers can do to affect these big economic changes. It’s always a good first step to simply buy British produce that is produced to the current standards we should expect. If you want to get more involved, then sustainweb.org has a good page where you can read up and learn more. You can also get updates on events that have an impact on our health and environment. And specifically on the issue of this trade deal you can write to your local MP and ask questions about protecting our food standards. There is more information and guidance on their website.