Consumers are usually not told which breed or hybrid line of chicken, cattle or swine have produced the eggs, milk and meat offered in the supermarkets or the butchery shops.

They should get interested, since they are contributing to the development of a global genetic monoculture. Meat processing factories and factory farms want uniform animals. Hardly noticed by the public, a concentration process is taking place not only in livestock production and processing, but also in the livestock breeding industry, increasing environmental pollution and animal welfare problems, and causing serious losses not only of biological diversity, food diversity, and cultural diversity.

With patents on animals and other appropriation strategies, the livestock genetics companies are increasing their power, acting as if consumers all over the world want ever larger quantities of ever cheaper meat, milk and eggs without caring for environmental, social and cultural impact.

LPP has produced a study on the global livestock industry and how they influence the animal breeds raised by farmers worldwide: Livestock Genetics Companies: Concentration and proprietary strategies of an emerging power in the global food economy.

Click here for the report (pdf, 267 kb).

The LIFE Network will host an international workshop on “Livestock Keepers and the Management of Animal Genetic Resources: Roles, Rights, and Responsibilities” in Sadri, Rajasthan, India, on 26-28 February 2007.

Registration and accommodation are free, but participants must cover their own expenses. The organizers may be able to provide assistance in certain cases.

Further information: 47 kb

The LIFE Network supports community-based conservation of animal genetic resources and seeks to strengthen rural livelihoods through the development of indigenous livestock breeds and species.

A workshop on “The Future of Animal Genetic Resources: Under Corporate Control or in the Hands of Farmers and Pastoralists?” was held 16-18 October, 2006, in Bonn, Germany. While concentration in the livestock breeding industry is fast increasing, and exotic breeds are transferred to the South in large quantities, local smallholder livestock keepers are losing access to grazing lands. The recent large scale biofuel plantations may add to the pressures.

Seventy percent of the world’s poor keep livestock, while factory farm products are generally not within immediate reach of the poor. The loss of breeds is accelerating, and livelihoods are lost as well. Participants have emphasized the importance of livestock keepers’ rights to their breeds as well as to the productive resources (e.g. grazing land, water, animal health services, and credit) needed to keep these breeds that have the capacity to produce under the often harsh local environments. Local breed development should become a priority in poverty alleviation programmes.

The 45 participants from 20 countries came from livestock keeping communities, civil society organizations, FAO, the Swiss government, national focal points for animal genetic resources from South and North, the International Livestock Research Institute, universities, donors, and breed conservation organizations. The workshop, which was organized by LPP together with the LIFE Network.

The workshop was held in preparation of the International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources that will be held in Interlaken, Switzerland, in September 2007.

More information: 45 kb