Cumulus and Eating Better alliance member Wildlife Trusts have published a report Quantifying the Environmental Risks from Pig & Poultry Production in the UK.
The research reveals highly concerning levels of environmental harm and potential harm related to land use, polluting nutrient levels (such as phosphorous from excreta), soil damage, pesticide use, and land use associated with feed production. It also details how much of the UK herd is not covered by permitting regulations aimed at controlling local pollution.
As the Government develops new strategies on food, land, farm profitability, a 25-Year Farming Roadmap, a Water White Paper and a revised Environmental Improvement Plan (which will include delivery pathways for meeting nature targets including on agricultural water pollution), the Wildlife Trusts make the following recommendations, which should be adopted across these plans:
- Reform existing permitting regimes to account for the wider environmental impacts associated with feed production and off-site excreta use associated with production units.
- Introduce a requirement for pig and poultry farms to produce comprehensive nutrient management action plans clearly detailing nutrient management budgets on farm, including end destination and use for excreta transported off-site to ensure sustainable application.
- A moratorium on new units, and the expansion of existing units, in the catchments of waterbodies failing good ecological status, or of Protected Areas at risk of failing their conservation objectives, as a result of nutrient pollution.
- Commission a new cross-departmental Government taskforce to identify how the impacts associated with the geographic concentration of pig and poultry production in the UK can be best managed to minimise environmental impacts.
- Integrate detailed analysis of the land take for crops grown to feed pig and poultry units within a Land Use Framework in England.
- Ensure supply chains are regulated and incentivised to support farmers to transition to less polluting and more integrated pig and poultry system.
Eating Better’s latest Public Attitudes Survey showed that 66% are open to the idea of reducing their meat consumption, and while lamb and processed meat saw significant drops (30% and 29% respectively), 26% increased the amount of fresh chicken they consumed. But where is this chicken coming from?
While just over a quarter of the chicken in the UK supply chain is imported, supermarket shelves and takeaway menus are full of industrially produced chicken and pork (the UK saw a 20% increase in pig and poultry units between 2016 and 2023). While most farmers consider animal welfare a top priority, the relentless focus on efficiency in industrial livestock production fundamentally conflicts with providing an enriched life for farmed animals.
In short:
- There's a positive future for animal agriculture in the UK, but only if it is rooted in sustainable systems, not in industrial models.
- Industrial livestock production is an unjust system for people, animals and the planet.
- In order to rebuild a fair and equitable livestock system, we must dismantle the scaffolding on which industrial production relies.
