Green campaigner Mary Horesh tells Patrice John that fixing the food chain is crucial in the battle against climate change.

In their long history, Birmingham Friends Of The Earth has used almost every possible way to change and influence the political agenda.

But its latest campaign seeks to use the political process to tackle the controversial issue of where we get our food and how it impacts others.

The Fix the Food Chain campaign is aimed at focusing the minds of British farmers, consumers and politicians on just how much their actions are ­impacting those in the developing world.

And voluntary campaigner Mary Horesh is well aware that this issue is bound to be a touchy one – even for die-hard environmentalists.

Ms Horesh is at the forefront of the campaign which aims to break the chain between intensive meat and dairy production and climate change.

She said: “We launched this campaign because food is so integral to us, as ­humans, and it’s also so emotive.

“Although many people choose to eat meat it is unfair that animals are given a bad life as part of the process.

“But my own view is that although people eat both meat and vegetables, we shouldn’t do that without thinking about the impact it has on the world.”

And here is the issue.

The Fix the Food Chain campaign hits consumerism and intensive farming right where it hurts and campaigners are calling on the Government to change the way things are done.

Friends Of The Earth claims that at present intensive farming practices ­require that animals are fed on soy, which is a source of protein grown and imported from Latin America.

The demand for soy has led to trees and forests in Brazil, Paraguay and ­Argentina being converted into land for growing soy, which has caused deforestation of large parts of land.

The lack of trees contributes to huge amounts of carbon dioxide emissions and this adds to climate change.

Friends Of The Earth is also concerned about the reported human rights abuses linked to soy farming where small-scale farmers are pushed off their land by global players in the agriculture industry.

But this link between farming and climate change is not a new one, and it’s been well documented that vegans and vegetarians believe, if we didn’t eat meat, the demand for it would not be there and there would be little need for intensive farming or the growing of soy in large quantities.

So I asked Mary, if she’s so serious about this, why isn’t she telling people to stop eating meat altogether?

“I’ve told other activists that you will not get the whole nation to become vegan or vegetarian. But if we can get the majority to move closer to eating less meat, and care about the food chain then that’s a good start.

“And this is not about demonising farmers either. I’ve met some of them who – when they first heard about this campaign – felt we were going to have a go at them, but that’s not what this is about.