2020 Grant standards for “Comprehensive Subsidies for Developing Strong Agriculture & Leaders”: Just a small addition for animal welfare

There are various support systems for the livestock industry implemented by the country, and one of them is the Comprehensive Subsidies for Developing Strong Agriculture & Leaders.

As previously reported in another article, from 2018, when using this grant to establish a local meat production center (slaughterhouse for pigs, cattle, etc.), “consideration for animal welfare” has become required, and it has become necessary to install drinking water at the slaughterhouse, which ARCJ had been asking for.

The vague phrase “consideration for animal welfare” is not specific and limits executive power.  However, the addition of such item to the standards for the grant system is a step forward.  But animal welfare is limited to local meat production centers, which is a problem.  This is because the subsidies are also given to poultry processing plants (chicken slaughterhouses) and breeding facilities (farms) for cattle, pigs, and chickens.

In the 2019 grant standards as well, animal welfare was limited to local meat production centers, so ARCJ has requested that the scope be extended to poultry processing plants and cattle/pig/chicken farms.

From 2020, consideration for animal welfare is required for smart maintenance of cattle/pig/chicken breeding facilities

The following item has been added to the standards for 2020 Comprehensive Subsidies for Developing Strong Agriculture & Leaders.

When implementing smart agricultural practice facilities for beef cattle, dairy cows, pig farming, and poultry farming, introduce two or more smart technologies. Also, provide the data obtained by smart technology to the livestock cloud. In addition, the facilities should be improved so that animal welfare is taken into consideration for breeding management.

2020 Comprehensive Subsidies for Developing Strong Agriculture & Leaders: Support type for local infrastructure facilities (prefecture grant) Appendix 1

One of the measures to be added to the Comprehensive Subsidies for Developing Strong Agriculture & Leaders from 2020 is the “measure for promoting smart agriculture”, and animal welfare has become required to receive the grant for smart agriculture development. Smart maintenance in livestock farming is expected to include, for example, using AI to detect dead chickens, estimating the breeding time of sows, and installing sensors in livestock shelters to detect abnormalities via the Internet; basically it’s about digitalization of the farm.

It’s not a bad thing that consideration for animal welfare has come to be demanded in supporting smart maintenance for cattle/pig/chicken breeding facilities. However, there is the problem of why it’s limited to smart maintenance here as well.

Whatever the policy, consideration for animal welfare should be a requirement when subsidizing livestock farming, but the current grant standards do not make it a requirement.

The current grant standards include grants for pregnancy stalls and buttery cages.  Furthermore, even the single phrase “consideration for animal welfare” is limited to local meat production centers and smart maintenance.

These subsidies are made using our tax money.
If you don’t want our tax money to build facilities of abuse, or don’t want subsidies granted to farms that don’t care about animal welfare, please reach out to your local Diet members. There are many Diet members who take petitions from their constituencies seriously.  ARCJ will continue to address this issue.