Rules against polluting emissions:the EU saves intensive farming

In the end it is decided, the EU has officially spared intensive farming more stringent measures regarding cutting polluting emissions.In particular, from the revision of directive on industrial emissions, cattle farms have been kept out, while some thresholds have changed for pig and poultry farms.The decision will be valid at least until 2026, the year in which the Commission will have to evaluate whether or not to review the decision.Despite numerous criticisms from the environmentalist world, the provisional political agreement was reached last Tuesday by the European Parliament and Council.

Overall, the new rules should ensure better prevention and control of resulting pollution from emissions from large agro-industrial plants, as well as the reduction of waste production and the optimization of the use of raw materials and energy.In this regard, although the impact of cattle farming is now widely known, the choice still fell on confirming the position already expressed by the European Parliament last July, when for the first time it was decided to exclude such farming from the scope of application of the directive.Compared to what is indicated in the revision proposal put forward by the Commission, the status quo for cattle breeding farms remains unchanged, while companies that own more than 1,200 heads of pigs will have to comply with the new anti-pollution regulations.For the latter, the threshold was previously set at 2,000 heads.However, the rules will not apply to organic and extensively managed pig farms.For poultry farms, the threshold of 40 thousand chickens remains unchanged, but for laying hens it is lowered to 21,500.The Italian Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida was satisfied and declared on his Facebook page:«the Italian system wins again.With our heads held high in Europe alongside Italian breeders."A statement that confirms what is said for the government in office the protection of industrial interests is a priority compared to that of public health, but also compared to that of smaller companies.«The agreement reached – explained the head of the Greenpeace agriculture campaign – is an own goal for the protection of our health and that of the environment, but also for all those small and medium-sized agricultural companies that would have only gained a competitive advantage from the 'imposition of more stringent limits on the largest and most industrialized intensive farms'.

In a completely anachronistic way, the decision would therefore also conflict with the much vaunted valorization of "Made in Italy".On the other hand, Italy's position in favor of industrial farming has always been consistent.Already in March, the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Pichetto Fratin had in fact voted against the agreement on the new text of the Directive on industrial emissions, precisely because the document had also included, for the first time, livestock with a number of adult livestock units exceeding 350 cattle.If on the one hand it is true that intensive farming is an economically important sector for Italy, on the other hand it is equally true that the Belpaese is far from being the largest European producer of meat in relation to its economy.But even if it were, the criticisms would still make sense.The Netherlands, for example, despite being largely dependent on this industry, are among the supporters of the directive in question and have been working for some time to convert the sector towards greater sustainability.Italy, on the contrary, raises the barricades in defense of a sector that is harmful not only from an environmental and spends Still millions of euros of public money to subsidize it.In the name of food safety, many funds have in fact also been invested in intensive farming which, in addition to not guaranteeing animal welfare, worsens the climate crisis and causes widespread pollution.According to the European Environmental Bureau, the EU livestock sector represents one of the main sources of air, soil and water pollution and is responsible of 12-17% of total greenhouse gas emissions. As if that were not enough, the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock farming directly fuels the dangerous phenomenon of resistance even among the human population.According to the European Commission, the proposal to include cattle and lower thresholds for pig and poultry farming would have allowed approximately half of existing livestock farming to be included in the scope of the directive, with a consequent environmental and health benefit of 5.5 billion of euros per year.

[by Simone Valeri]