Celebrating the role of the veterinary profession in sustainable food production

This is the transcript of a speech given by RCVS President Dr Sue Paterson FRCVS at a North of Ireland Veterinary Association (NIVA) gala dinner on Friday 6 October 2023 at the Magheramorne Estate in Larne on the subject of sustainable food production and the veterinary professions. 

Thank you for inviting me to this prestigious event here in Northern Ireland.

As RCVS President I want to talk about the crucial role vets play in maintaining animal health and welfare and how that is fundamental to a sustainable future; as well as outlining some the RCVS own sustainability initiatives.

In an article published earlier this year, a number of world leaders including Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak and Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, wrote that they were convinced “poverty reduction and the protection of the planet are converging objectives”.

They also highlight that “an estimated 120 million people have been pushed into extreme poverty in the last three years and we are still far from achieving our United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.”

As a veterinary surgeon I would like to believe that poverty reduction and the protection of the planet are indeed converging objectives, simply because as veterinary surgeons, and I’m sure I speak for all of us here, we understand that sustainable agriculture cuts emission - it climate-proofs the food supply, reduces waste and also reduces the risk of famine.

If we look at the National Food Strategy, an independent review for government undertaken by Johnathon Dimbleby in 2021 it highlights the need to properly reward farmers for environmental improvements above and beyond what they currently do and recognises the world class environmental and animal welfare standards, supported by our production animal and public health vets, of British food.

Whilst that report recommended significant changes are needed to the national diet to increase fibre (by 50%), reduce high fat, starch and sugary food by 25% and increase fruit and vegetable consumption by 30% ….it did not suggest a switch from beef to beans would save the planet…. but that we needed to consider eating less meat, produced from high welfare, local, sustainable farms. 

The RCVS, encourages veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses to think about One Health - the synergies between animal health and human health.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the links between the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis. Both pose existential risks to animal and human health and welfare, and a coordinated approach is essential in addressing them.

Veterinary surgeons are uniquely placed to work with farmers on questions of sustainability, including the need for ‘less and better’ consumption of animal products, thereby benefiting biodiversity, animal welfare, and human health.

Earlier this year the new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2023 started accepting applications.

SFI 23 offers farmers a reliable income to support food production and improve farm productivity and resilience, while also protecting and improving the environment.

What is interesting as well as the suite of offers that includes actions for soil, moorland, hedgerows, integrated pest management, nutrient management and the encouragement of wildlife on farmland; the scheme recognises the importance of the collaborative farmer:vet relationship as it funds an annual veterinary review of the health and welfare of the livestock on a farm.

The 23 actions on offer through SFI 23 the government believes, will help support sustainable food production and contribute towards the environmental targets set out in the government’s Environmental Improvement Plan.

There is no doubt that the veterinary profession has a crucial role to play. Veterinary surgeons work with clients to improve animal health and welfare, provide preventative healthcare and treatment, and undertake health monitoring and surveillance, as well as advancing the roles and status of animals within the sustainability debate. 

Yet we face a huge challenge. Global consumption of animal-derived food is expected to double by 2050.

There is increasing recognition that animal agriculture can be a significant contributor to environmental degradation, climate change, habitat loss, and waste.

Changes in animal production and farming practices are necessary to increase the efficiency of agriculture, produce more with less and mitigate or reduce its environmental impact.

A sobering conclusion from the expert author’s report exploring “Net Zero and Livestock” from the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL) suggests that even with switches in production practices, with a high rate of uptake, the livestock sector will fall well short of the 64% reduction in carbon emissions needed to achieve net zero by 2050.

So how do we get there... if we look at the most recent report from the CIEL 2023 “Bridging the gap” the way forward to bridge the emissions gap is through innovation.

Innovation across health and genetics, nutrition, waste and land management provide opportunities for sector-wide emissions reductions and sustainable food systems.

Whilst nutritional research, (often led by veterinary scientists), looking at the use of methane inhibitors such as seaweed, 3-nitro oxy proponal (3-NOP) and calcium nitrate in feed and the use of methane vaccines offer attractive options to reduce methane production, which is of course a potent greenhouse gas, an equally attractive solution should be to produce more high welfare animal protein from less animals.

Preventative health care through vaccination programmes against endemic cattle disease can produce a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Endemic diseases such as Infectious bovine tracheitis, Johne’s disease, bovine viral diarrhoea, salmonella and calf pneumonia result in milk or meat loss through reduction in growth rates, fertility and increased mortality. This means a greater number of animals, quantity of time or a combination of the two are required to maintain milk and meat output.

Vaccination uptake is relatively low in the 9.6 million cattle in the UK illustrating the role our production animal vets can take in disease control to help deliver net zero goals. Unvaccinated herds testing positive for Leptospirosis and Salmonella have been shown to have lower milk sales output?  Livestock in good health require less feed and forage to maintain production as well of course leading to substantial reductions in antibiotic usage.

What of the RCVS’s own sustainability work? 

The RCVS is committed to supporting and demonstrating sustainability compliance both within our own workforce at the College and within the veterinary professions through new standards, guidance and resource.

As a College, we have our own sustainability policies around such things as procurement, working practices and travel. RCVS Council voted in 2022 to divest from fossil fuels and although we are currently in serviced offices until the new Royal College is refurbished and opens next year, we are members of the Investors in the Environment and will work hard to embed sustainability in to the fabric of the new building.

The Environment and Sustainability Working Party which I chaired throughout 2021 and 2022 determined that our Practice Standards Scheme would be the best conduit through which we could encourage sustainable policies in veterinary practices.

In July 2022, following approval by the Practice Standards Group, the College published its new environmental sustainability requirements for RCVS-accredited practices. Embedded into core standards which translate into code requirements are the need for all practices to have a sustainability policy. Importantly there is also strengthened guidance, particularly in view of their environmental impact on our pollinators, around the responsible use of ecto and endo parasiticides across all species. Responsible use of antibiotics also forms part of new core standards supported by RCVS Knowledge’s VetTeamAMR, which is an initiative that champions responsible use of antimicrobials within companion animal, equine and farm animal teams.

The Practice Standards Scheme also announced a new Environmental Sustainability Award, which allows practices to demonstrate environmentally sustainable behaviours. The Award includes points for reducing waste, consolidating medicines orders, minimising drug wastage, assessment of volatile anaesthetic usage and calculating the practice’s carbon footprint as well as setting reduction targets.

The RCVS also represents the veterinary professions on the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC) which coordinates action, provide leadership, and amplifies the voice of more than a million health professionals across the UK.

We contributed to their most recent work published last month their  ‘Biodiversity, Climate Change and Health Policy Report’, This hard hitting report makes 7 recommendations including ending subsidies and investment in fossil fuel, reducing plastic waste, supporting marine ecosystems and increasing knowledge around the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals in water bodies as well as protecting, restoring and regenerating nature and biodiversity and the prioritising and promotion of plant-based and sustainably sourced food by reducing but not eliminating meat and dairy consumption and reducing food wastage. 

So thank you once again for inviting me to be involved in this fantastic evening, it’s event like these that provide people the opportunity to share their knowledge, learn and collaborate on long lasting change. As a vet I am proud of the skills and knowledge that we possess, and equally recognise that we are one part of the solution, there are many experts in the room tonight and I encourage you all to consider how we all can play our part. I like to assure everyone tonight that as an organisation the RCVS we will continue to do all we can to encourage and support the professions to lead the way in addressing the global climate crisis.

Thank you.