Day 287 - 25 Oct 96 - Page 17
1 MR JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
2
3 MR. MORRIS: On day 225, page 10, Mr. Cesca helpfully agreed
4 with what Dr. Gonzales said, that -- at line ten --
5 McDonald's take about ten percent or something of a
6 carcass. He is asked, "That sounds about right?" Answer,
7 "Yes." So the volume of beef consumed by McDonald's in
8 any country in terms of the volume of cattle that need to
9 be slaughtered and made available and raised and reared to
10 their specifications is ten times greater than the actual
11 volume of beef that they physically use, we would say.
12
13 Then there was a long discussion about exactly how many
14 million tons of soya meal Brazil exports and Germany
15 imports and Europe imports. On page 12, line 26, I said,
16 "So it is likely that the Brazilian soya in that year
17 anyway", I was referring to 1984, "would have basically
18 swamped the market, do you agree with that?" Answer,
19 "Yes." On page 16, he recognises the need for cattle feed
20 when cattle are not able to graze during the winter, not
21 only in Germany. Actually there was a question you asked,
22 but he did not answer. "Just like wet grass-growing areas
23 of this country", but the same would apply to other
24 countries in Europe.
25
26 Then he says, on page 17, line 12, "I assumed that
27 McDonald's cattle would be pretty typical of what grows in
28 that region of the country". Then you said that you did
29 not want me to ask any more on the subject because,
30 "Mr. Cesca is prepared to assume that McDonald's cattle
31 would be pretty typical so far as feeding is concerned."
32 Answer, "That is correct, your Honour." That was line 25.
33
34 So the chain of causation from the dispossession of
35 Brazilian farmers for vast soya production ranches, or
36 farms, for export to Europe, amongst other places,
37 substantial imports to Europe, substantial exports to
38 Germany and the use by McDonald's in Germany of beef fed
39 with Brazilian soya and, indeed, in this country fed with
40 cattle (sic) from Germany as well -- sorry, using cattle
41 that had been fed, using cattle that emanated from Germany
42 in this country. We would say the chain of causation is
43 established and McDonald's, recognise that, must know that,
44 have a policy which they say would be protecting the
45 environment from that problem, but the reality is they do
46 not even -- their purchasing people do not even know that
47 the policy exists, purely a publicity policy.
48
49 Just to finish off Mr. Cesca's evidence on the subject, if
50 there is anything else I need to refer to. On page 18,
51 asked about the eviction of small farmers, on line 27 he
52 said, "No, I could not be an expert in that". So, he was
53 not prepared to be considered to be an expert. I asked him
54 had there been a huge increase in soya production in Brazil
55 in the last twenty-seven. Answer, "Yes, there has been an
56 increase in soya production." That was line 43. I said,
57 on page 19, line 4, "Would you accept then the large
58 increase in production in Brazil, a major contributory
59 factor to that has been the increasing export potential of
60 the industry in Brazil? " Answer, "Yes." Question, "In
