Pawprint: the campaign

What clever farming can do for our world might surprise you. It’s not just animals that benefit from better care and a higher quality of life, we do too.

Our health, environment and farmers’ livelihoods can all be protected by compassionate farming. Let us take you on a journey of discovery…

We’re not in a good place right now.

Industrial livestock farming can cause pollution and loss of biodiversity, can fail to empower the poor and may threaten human health – all by-products of the industrial farming of billions of animals every year. It’s a very high price for us all to pay, animal and human alike, for our food.

But there’s good news. There’s a better way.

We believe that for farming to be truly sustainable, it must take care of animals, people and the planet.

Welfare-friendly and sustainable farms across the world are proving every day that rearing animals in better conditions brings a host of surprising benefits to people and the planet.

An inspiring whistle-stop tour would include India, where free-range chicken farming is helping to empower rural women… then we could take a moment in the US, to see how farms that allow cattle to graze outdoors on rich pasture are creating stable local jobs … and on to Brazil, where environmentally-friendly chicken farms are protecting the local landscape from pesticides and pollutants.

We have the roadmap. Let’s take the steps!

We urgently need you to help us put the clever benefits of kinder farming on the agenda at the UN Earth Summit next June in Rio. Together we can convince your government to improve things for everyone by using sustainable, animal-friendly farming.

Here are five actions that your government can take right now to protect the world’s resources through better farming.

Recognise that good local and global animal welfare farming practices and policies are key to safeguarding people, animals and the environment.

Give formal government support to farmers who rear their livestock humanely and sustainably and phase out subsidies and investment to those farmers who do not.

Make it clear that farm animals reared on humane, sustainable farms are vital to a country’s economic development and lifting people from poverty.

Address the challenge and highlight the local and global implications of the unsustainable demand for meat, eggs and dairy products.

Support and invest in research and development that shows how animal-friendly farming systems protect and develop rural economies.

Take action. Demand that your government works quickly to protect our irreplaceable resources through better farming.