Calls to reform food system: 'Factory farming belongs in a museum'

Stop the Machine aims to put an end to methods of farming that are endangering biodiversity and wildlife the world over

We can feed an extra 4 billion people a year if we reject the bloated and wasteful factory farming systems that are endangering our planet's biodiversity and wildlife, said farming campaigner Philip Lymbery on Monday night, launching a global campaign to Stop the Machine.

At present, 35% of the world's cereal harvest and most of its soya meal is fed to industrially reared animals rather than directly to humans. This is a "wasteful and inefficient practice" because the grain-fed animals contribute much less back in the form of milk, eggs and meat than they consume, according to Lymbery, the chief executive of Compassion in World Farming (CIWF). "The food industry seems to have been hijacked by the animal feed industry," he said.