MPs brave bronco for a good cause
By Alex Stevenson
MPs took a break from lawmaking to ride a bucking bronco outside parliament this lunchtime.
Despite the inclement weather shrouding Westminster several MPs braved the rain – and potential humiliation – to raise awareness for a Friends of the Earth campaign.
The environmental charity is concerned English families are paying £700 million every year to fund factory farming in South America.
By supporting these farms demand is being fuelled for the animal feed imported from South American plantations created by clearing rainforests.
MPs including John Gummer, Jeremy Corbyn and Peter Ainsworth backed the campaign by riding the bronco, with varying degrees of success. Liberal Democrat MP John Leech emerged triumphant, with a winning time of 37 seconds.
John Gummer on why he backs FoE:
“What they’ve been doing is expressing support for the Friends of the Earth campaign, Food Chain, which is trying to call attention to the impact which factory farming is having on the environment,” FoE executive director Andy Atkins said.
He explained factory farming was affecting “deforestation in Latin America and ultimately climate change, via the food chain”.
This, Mr Atkins said, “is a hidden chain that leads to massive soya production in South America, feeding milk and dairy production in this country in ways which cause major environmental impacts”.
Mr Gummer, supporting the proposals, said: “We really do have to think seriously about the way we grow and produce our food. We’ve got to learn again to live with the grain of nature instead of trying to conquer it and therefore destroy it.
“I am very much in favour of treating the soil properly, of making sure you don’t cut down very important rainforests in order to have more. cattle and more sheep.”
Andy Atkins explains the cause behind the stunt:
FoE is calling on ministers to overhaul the common agricultural policy, which governs the imports. It believes funding should be diverted to the development of home-grown high protein feed.
Mr Atkins added: “The government must stop bucking around with taxpayers’ money and use our money to support planet-friendly farming for good meat and dairy for families in Britain.”
