Paris (AFP)

Greenpeace makes its mea culpa and admits that the farms of 1,000 cows are "not representative" of cattle breeding in France, while denouncing the role of public authorities in the industrialization of poultry and pig farming, especially in Brittany and the Pays de la Loire, according to a report published on Wednesday.

After a shocking but inaccurate first report in 2018 which had forced the NGO to apologize to the farmers who were the subject of a nominal denunciation, and to withdraw an interactive map of "factory farms", Greenpeace is now pointing the role of the State in an "encouraged and uncontrolled industrialization" of animal husbandry.

First of all, the observation: "the trend towards industrialization is increasing", especially in the poultry and pig sectors, especially in the great west, in Brittany and in the Pays de la Loire, Suzanne Dalle told AFP , agricultural campaign manager at Greenpeace.

According to the NGO, 1% of French farms produce two thirds of pigs, chickens and eggs produced in France. "The laying hen sector is at the top of the industrialization ranking," notes the report.

Brittany alone accounts for almost half of the installations subject to authorization in the name of environmental protection and the Pays de la Loire region for around 20%.

The installations classified for environmental protection (IPCE) are those which have more than 750 places for sows, more than 2,000 for pigs over 30 kg, more than 40,000 for poultry, more than 400 for cows dairy or more than 800 for fattening calves or fattening cattle.

The environmental NGO requests a moratorium on the installation and extension of poultry and pig farms and above all better control of those that exist.

- "Unacceptable practices" -

At the same time, the association for the defense of animals L214 released on Wednesday a video denouncing the practices of an industrial slaughterhouse in Aveyron, showing in particular lambs slaughtered alive, and brought charges for "serious animal abuse" . She also lambasted the development of "intensive breeding" of newborn lambs in the Roquefort sector.

The sheep chain at the abattoir in question was immediately closed by the Minister of Agriculture, who launched a "full inspection" of the facilities.

The meat industry Interbev "condemned" the "unacceptable practices" of this slaughterhouse, its president Dominique Langlois saying in a press release that they "go against the priorities set by the farming and meat industry since 2017 in a collective social responsibility approach ".

Greenpeace is also concerned about the "unraveling" of the ICPE regulation via less restrictive authorization schemes and a weakening of public participation / consultation, as well as a "renunciation" of the State in terms of environmental controls on square.

In cattle, the NGO recognizes that the model of farms of 1,000 cows is "not at all" representative of "the state of cattle farming in France", even if it could become "a form of standard "elsewhere in Europe, in particular" in the Netherlands ".

Greenpeace is also worried about a plan to build a factory "of more than 23,000 dairy cows" in Spain, which would make it one of the largest in Europe and the world.

© 2020 AFP