The Green Party’s Animal Welfare Policy Group will be hosting a ‘factory farming’ webinar later this month.
The event is open to the public and will look at “the implications of factory farming on animal welfare and the environment, and to look at alternatives to intensive agricultural practices”.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Pippa Hackett, who is an organic farmer, is on the speaker list. She will discuss with Kenneth Keavey of Green Earth Organics “alternatives to intensive agriculture including organic and regenerative farming”.
Meanwhile, Dr. Lori Marino, founder of The Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy and the Whale Sanctuary Project, will begin the event with a discussion on animal sentience.
Caroline Rowley, founder of Ethical Farming Ireland will “inform us of the level of factory farming currently happening in Ireland”, followed by a discussion of the “health and welfare implications of factory farming” by Peter Stevenson, chief policy advisor with Compassion in World Farming.
Ecologist and broadcaster Anja Murray will discuss the “implications of intensive agriculture on the environment”.
A Green Party spokesperson told Agriland that the party “acknowledges that there are different understandings/interpretations of the term ‘factory farming’ and that Irish law follows EU directives for regulation and control of farming at certain intensities”.
“For the purposes of this event, the policy group defines factory farming as the practice of rearing animals in an intensive manner, usually indoors, in an artificial environment for the production of food,” the spokesperson said.
The Green Party’s Animal Welfare Policy Group discusses policy initiatives “to improve the welfare of animals from companion to farm”.
The event will take place on September 25, from 10:00a.m until 12:00p.m.