Over seven thousand people attended an activist camp in Germany this weekend to demand a fundamental change in national agriculture policy ahead of the upcoming Federal elections on 22 September.
The citizens rallied at the site of Europe’s largest poultry slaughterhouse in Wietze, Lower Saxony to express their dissatisfaction with the current industrial approach to food and farming across the continent. They want the incoming government to support small-scale agriculture, ensure animal welfare and protect the environment.
The mega-slaughterhouse, which has the capacity to kill 430,000 chickens per day, also faces opposition from the local community. The event featured a human chain around the factory and workshops and discussions on the harmful impacts of factory farming.
Stanka Becheva, agriculture campaigner from Friends of the Earth Europe: “This rally highlights the growing movement against industrial agriculture which pollutes the environment, threatens biodiversity and yet still receives subsidies from public funds. We need fundamental reforms across Europe which ensure long-term food security, rural regeneration and the protection of our natural resources.”
