At the end of the nineteen forties it became one of the aims of the Dutch government to assure that food was cheap and available for everyone. During the nineteen fifties it became clear that the cattle breeding and agriculture as they knew it, was insufficient to meet these demands and therefore growth and intensification of business was inevitable to meet the, because of the increased prosperity, demand for meat. Intensive farming also known as the bio-industry was born. The Dutch government argued that agriculture and cattle farming had to experience the same kind of growth as seen before in other industries. Mechanization on farms and in agriculture were encouraged, small businesses were liquidated or combined in large industries. At the end of the nineteen fifties, the European Economic Community was founded, resulting in a larger market for agriculture and livestock products. Expansion, mechanization, rationalization and specialization were the key issues during that time. The Government sent out employees to convince farmers of the alleged need for expansion. The motto of that time, labour rationalization, meant that there had to be an as big as possible production in the least amount of time. The Dutch government hired scientists to investigate how agriculture and livestock production should be changed to increase the production as much as possible. Experimental farms were established where scientists did studies and tests, for example increasing the number of piglets a sow could give birth to annually. These experimental farms still exist today! The following years many major changes were made in livestock farming and agriculture in the Netherlands. Government employees found inspiration in other countries where after the government decided that it would be economically efficient to introduce so-called “battery systems” to the Dutch farmers. Chickens from then on could be kept in small cages on grids. Then it was the pigs turn, they also were from then on being kept on grids in small cages and sows would be chained. Everything just to generate more revenue per surface with as least as possible human labour involved. Farmers were told that if they didn’t comply with the “inevitable growth” it wouldn’t take long for them to go bankrupt. If they wanted to survive, they had to cooperate. Everything was marked by economic progress, the welfare of the animal was never considered. Read more: https://groenenationalisten.wordpress/2014/07/18/bio-industry-in-the-netherlands/
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 03:39:40 +0000
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