Dear elected representatives, decision-makers, farmers and other stakeholders ! You may be receiving a new Letter for LESS and BETTER (an open letter) from time to time. You have to understand, don’t you, that nobody wants to harm farmers, and certainly not the ecologists (whatever the slanderers may say), but that there is a real environmental emergency, and not just an economic and social one.

And yet the majority of the Conseil Régional du Grand Est has voted end of June 2023 in favour of a motion calling on the government to disregard the Court of Auditors’ report on public aid for cattle farms (French only) which shows that aids are ineffective and recommends a reduction in livestock numbers. This regional motion against the Court of Auditors must be contradicted. The conclusions of the Court of Auditors are relevant.

To address the fundamental questions you’ll find here the first Letter for Less and Better, n° zero. It talks to you about the cattle industry, for a more sober, happier future.

Are you financing “Farms of the Future”? Well, before you spend any money, make sure how you source the “Information for Future”! The house is on fire! Europe risks giving in, tragically, to the lobbies – but climate change won’t give in to empty rhetoric!

The second issue of the Letter for Less and Better n°1 talks about the externalities of livestock farming. If we want to keep the positive externalities of livestock farming but reduce or even eliminate the negative ones, the solution is simple: LESS and BETTER.

The Letter LESS and BETTER No. 2 talks about animal welfare. Minimum standards are obsolete, so be ambitious and update your knowledge! Pay particular attention to price formation. Work out animal welfare criteria for subsidies. There should be three kinds of criteria:

• red lines: no subsidies for that!
• general criteria in favour of free-range and better housing, for the transition to LESS and BETTER
• innovation criteria to experiment with exemplary projects.