$1m a minute: the farming subsidies destroying the world - report

The public is providing more than $1m per minute in global farm subsidies, much of which is driving the climate crisis and destruction of wildlife, according to a new report. Just 1% of the $700bn (£560bn) a year given to farmers is used to benefit the environment, the analysis found. Much of the total instead promotes high-emission cattle production, forest destruction and pollution from the overuse of fertiliser. The security of humanity is at risk without reform to these subsidies, a big reduction in meat eating in rich nations and other damaging uses of land, the report says. But redirecting the subsidies to storing carbon in soil, producing healthier food, cutting waste and growing trees is a huge opportunity, it says. The report rejects the idea that subsidies are needed to supply cheap food. It found that the cost of the damage currently caused by agriculture is greater than the value of the food produced. New assessments in the report found producing healthy, sustainable food would actually cut food prices, as the condition of the land improves. A series of major recent reports have concluded the world’s food system is broken. It is driving the planet towards climate catastrophe while leaving billions of people either underfed or overweight, 130 national academies of science and medicine concluded in November. Another report found that avoiding meat and dairy was the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet, with livestock using 83% of farmland to produce just 18% of calories.The “planetary health diet” published by scientists in January requires an 80% cut in the red meat eaten by Europeans and North Americans. Adopting this diet in coming decades would mean 60% of today’s pasture could be used for wildlife or other purposes, an area similar to the size of Brazil...MORE

Regular readers know I'm opposed to farm subsidies. This bunch, however, is not proposing to lower farm subsides, but to instead redirect them.
I'm immediately suspicious of those advocating "a big system reset" and "Transforming food and land use" and using government as "a massive, massive lever" to reach their goals.
So why link to this article? To make sure folks are aware of the planetary health diet and the lobbying efforts on its behalf, including the media efforts to support such as a lead up to the UN's Climate Change Summit later this month:

In the runup to a major UN climate summit on September 23rd, The Guardian is joining forces with more than 250 news organizations from around the world as part of Covering Climate Now. This is a groundbreaking initiative to increase nationwide media coverage of the climate emergency. We will be sharing a portion of our climate coverage with partners in the network in the hope that news organizations without dedicated environment desks will have the opportunity to provide in-depth reporting on this issue. By increasing the reach of our climate coverage, our goal is to spark action from our leaders, inspire citizens, and point to systematic change.

Keep that in mind as you read press coverage of the event.