The Soil Association responds to Defra's announcement of its River Wye Action Plan and proposed investment in anaerobic digestors in an effort to tackle the mountain of manure generated by the intensive poultry units.

Soil Association Campaign Advisor Cathy Cliff said: “We welcome the belated emphasis on reducing pollution in the Wye. However, while measures to move manure to different parts of the country will help to reduce pollution in the Wye, the sheer volume of manure being shifted is likely to lead to problems elsewhere.

“The Defra announcement followed the Soil Association’s Stop Killing our Rivers campaign which also identified 10 further rivers in England and Wales at risk from intensive poultry pollution, as intensive poultry units holding millions of birds have been given permission to operate close to other river catchments around the UK. These rivers are already failing UK phosphate targets.

“The most certain way to avoid river pollution would be to stop intensive poultry units producing such large volumes of manure in the first place. This would also help to protect the fragile ecosystems that are being destroyed in order to produce huge amounts of soya to feed unnaturally fast-growing chickens living in terrible conditions inside these units.

“We’re really pleased to see the support being provided to local farmers to implement better nutrient management and to move away from
inorganic fertilisers and implement sustainable practices like riparian buffer strips.  This is the kind of support we need to enable farmers to
transition to more sustainable, high welfare farming, not technological fixes like that proposed by Defra that lock farmers into this damaging
system.

“We also welcome Defra’s acknowledgement of the citizen scientists volunteering for Friends of the Wye – whose amazing and vital work
highlighted the impact of the pollution on the river quality, aquatic life and local nature.”

The Soil Association wants to end water pollution from intensive chicken farms in the UK and is asking the public to sign a petition to ask UK governments to: ban new intensive chicken farms, help chicken farmers move towards sustainable farming practices, and reduce how much intensively farmed chicken we produce and eat in the UK.