Dairy has had an 80-year stranglehold on US schools. A recent article by Kenny Torrella in Vox explored this unbreakable union, which has been lucrative for dairy corporations and devastating for animals and the planet.
But it is not just in the United States where big business is shaping the political picture around meat and dairy.
Government funds also promote animal agriculture in the UK. In January, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), an arm’s length government body, reportedly spent more than £4 million on its “Let’s Eat Balanced” campaign to promote beef, lamb and dairy. The campaign was anything but balanced and prompted multiple complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Ditto the EU. A new report from InfluenceMap sets out exactly how damaging the influence of meat and dairy lobbyists has been in the past three years. Recent backsliding on climate and environmental policy follows “years of the corporate meat and dairy sector’s strategic narrative building along with detailed policy engagement, both of which mirror fossil fuel industry tactics”.
It is common knowledge that animal farming receives more than its fair share of financial support for food producers.
The EU’s common agriculture policy (CAP), for example, is stacked in animal agriculture’s favour: 80% of all the public money given to farmers through the CAP goes on animal products.
While the most damaging industries continue to enjoy the greatest access to politicians, there is little prospect of radical food system change happening in the near term.
Dairy’s destructive dominance
Dairy’s dominance in US schools typifies the political power that animal industry lobbies yield.
Congress set up the National School Lunch Program in 1946, motivated in part by a need to offload agricultural surpluses.
Since then, dairy’s grip on schools has grown even as awareness of the suffering and environmental impact of animal agriculture has increased. The dairy lobby has well-documented influence over politicians.
Animal agriculture causes at least 16.5 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet, it has for years managed to steer clear of corresponding levels of scrutiny.
Meat and dairy lobbyists turned out in record numbers at COP28 to pressure policymakers to keep animal agriculture’s emissions out of the spotlight.
The following month, the House of Representatives focused on dairy but not on its climate devastation. Instead, it voted to bring whole milk back to school cafeterias.
Paris is toast
All the while, the world is burning.
Last week, at least 85 people died of suspected heat stress and related issues in Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in 24 hours of extreme heat, the Hindustan Times reported.
In May, the world experienced an eleventh consecutive month with global temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Dairy-funded adverts have become increasingly desperate in recent years as more people make the shift to plant-based alternatives. Celebrity endorsements paid for by the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP), including cameos from Queen Latifah and Aubrey Plaza, have provoked ridicule.
Governments need to stop coddling destructive industries and start putting animal and environmental protection above corporations’ balance books. Whether or not they find the strength to cut ties with meat and dairy lobbyists will have a major say in the future of our planet.
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