A controversial call for consumers to not eat meat by a leading climate change expert has been dismissed by the National Farmers’ Union.
Astair Mackintosh, the livestock board chairman for the National Farmers’ Union, who has a herd of 220 cattle and 1,300 sheep on the west coast in Cumbria, called the plea by Lord Stern of Brentford another attack on his industry.
He said: “Agriculture and farming are part of the solution to climate change, it’s not the problem. We have a challenge going forward, but we are up to it. One area of work is whether we can trap methane and reuse it. If the technology is there we need to do it.”
Stern, a former chief economist at the World Bank, had suggested eating meat would become socially unacceptable in the future.
He said: "Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better."
