The ECEN food group invites churches to ponder on these questions...
- Should Europe aim towards being self-sufficient in the sense of a net balance of food imports and exports?
- Is it ethically acceptable to import food from Africa and other continents where the land is now or may in the future be needed to feed adequately their own populations (food for humans or farm animals)?
- Is it ethically acceptable to rear animals in excessively unnatural conditions (i.e. in barns all the year) that prevent natural behaviour?
- How much land should be left for wildlife in European countries so that all species are able to thrive in an era of changing climate?
- In order to reduce the amount of pesticide use, should there be more incentives to use natural biological controls and where this is not possible reduce the quantity and improve the specific actions of pesticides?
- Agricultural policy until now appears to be to increase meat production and consumption. Should we campaign for this policy to be reversed in the light of Climate Change effects and limited resources?
- In the light of 30% loss of agricultural products between harvest and retail and in the light of the significant wastage of food in our countries should we call for incentives to reduce these figures?
Charles Jolly
Peter Siebe
ECEN Assembly, Prague
10 June 2010