An investigation into the changing face of the UK agriculture industry has revealed the impact of consolidation and expansion in the sector; the number of intensive farms in the UK has risen by a quarter since 2011, with many farms now so big they fit the definition of a US mega-farm.

What’s more, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which carried out the research, claims five big processing companies are controlling almost all of the UK meat industry. the investigation is important, as the UK government doesn’t collate figures on intensive farms, so this is the first insight into the changing picture in the UK, where the number of farms is declining as the average farm size increases (the country as a whole lost 4,000 farms between 2010 and 2016).

The Environment Agency - and its regional counterparts in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales - classify livestock farms as "intensive" if they have capacity for housing at least 40,000 poultry birds, 2,000 pigs for meat or 750 breeding pigs. These farms require a permit to operate from the Environment Agency or equivalent body.

Poultry operations account for 86% of intensive farms in the UK and there has been a 26% increase in the number of intensive pig and poultry farms in the past six years. 789 of these farms would qualify as mega-farms, or CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations), in the United States, where intensive farming as we know it was born. Mega-farms have the capacity for 125,000 broiler chickens, 82,000 laying hens, 2,500 pigs, 700 dairy or 1,000 beef cattle. Again, the majority of these farms are poultry operations (the largest of which can house 1.7 million birds), with a large number of pig farms, and some dairy and beef units.

Some areas are home to more intensive farms than others; in Northern Ireland, there is a rapidly increasing trend for more intensive farming (the number of large-scale farms there increased by 68% to 259 farms over the course of the Bureau’s investigation).

In England, the Shire Counties of Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire have the most intensive farms with a total of 208, followed by counties in East Anglia and then Yorkshire. In Herefordshire, which has the highest number of intensively farmed animals, the animal population of these farms is more than 88 times greater than the county’s human population.

The Bureau’s investigation also identified where these mega-farms fit into the UK supply chain, with links to retailers and restaurants through a few major processors. As well as supplying Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Nando’s and McDonald’s, meat and animal products from mega-farms are going to Marks & Spencer's and the Cooperative. Major players distributing meat and milk to supermarkets and restaurants include Poultry supplier Hook 2 Sisters, pig rearing company JSR Farms, Cargill, which supplies poultry to Tesco, and a CAFO-sized dairy from Cornwall, which is supplying Arla, itself a supplier of milk and dairy ingredients to the Co-op.

Mega-farms have often made headlines in the UK, especially in local publications, due to communities’ frequent opposition to ‘factory farm’ proposals locals believe will have implications for smells, public health, pollution, traffic and animal welfare. Such was the fate of the proposed Nocton Dairy in Lincolnshire and Foston pig farm in Derbyshire, which were both successfully opposed by local campaigns. However, research by the Bureau and The Guardian newspaper suggests that most intensive farms in the UK have scaled-up from smaller farms into larger units without moving to new locations, which is the factor that frequently sparks local opposition.  

The companies backing the farms maintain that their model allows for more meat and animal products to be produced for less money, with greater efficiency and control over variables ranging from disease to emissions. The cost savings are impossible to argue against: on supermarket shelves an intensively reared chicken costs around a third of the price of an organically reared bird (between 29% to 38% of the average cost). Even so, welfare campaigners maintain that large-scale, indoor units are risky and degrading for animals in the system, and experts admit that animals are prevented from expressing natural behaviours in these crowded environments.  

Farming groups’ differing opinions on intensification

Commenting on the shift in production in the UK, the Soil Association’s Chief Executive Helen Browning said, “The increase in these very large indoor units is worrying from a number of perspectives. If a problem emerges, such as disease, or a breakdown in ventilation systems, it can very quickly become a welfare catastrophe. Eradicating disease in such large flocks and herds can be extremely difficult, as vets increasingly acknowledge. The animals have no opportunity to experience a good life. Even if excellent management and design can prevent conditions like lameness, there’s not much fun to be had in a factory. We all want to spend some time outside when the weather is fine, to explore and play, and other animals want this too.

“It makes no sense environmentally either. Very large quantities of feed travel huge distances to supply the CAFO, and then the manure (usually described as ‘waste’ when it should be a valued resource for surrounding farmland) becomes a disposal problem. Anaerobic digesters are often cited as the solution, but these bring another raft of problems in their wake. Meanwhile, the local community can suffer from constant traffic in and out of the sites.”  

Helen Browning said, “The Soil Association has always promoted mixed farming, where animals are an integral part of the fertility building process on farms, free ranging on leguminous pastures whenever weather conditions permit. This can take place on farms of all sizes-it’s not the size of the operation but the balance of animals to the land available that is important, and the ability of animals to experience a more natural life.”

However, the British Poultry Council (BPC) denies that there are problems inherent within the intensive farming model. Responding to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s report, BPC said large-scale farms don’t necessarily sacrifice their standards, and stated, “We are proud of the standards maintained by our farmers up and down the country.”

One Herefordshire poultry farmer who spoke to the Bureau said he hadn’t used a single antibiotic in the two years his large-scale farm had been operational, and highlighted that the hatchery, feed mill, and factory which supply his farm - all owned by Cargill - are within 15 miles of the site (though the chickens on the farm were fed soya pellets).

BPC said, “Our farming is demand driven, based on what consumers can afford to pay as well as on the availability of land. You can’t judge the welfare of birds based on the size of farms. It’s much more about how they are farmed and how you look after them. British poultry is a national success story because of good animal husbandry practices as well as an openness in the sector to accept change, encourage innovation and share best practice.

“You can ask our farmers about the ways in which they carefully control the environment of every single shed under their care. A great deal of effort is spent in ensuring that our birds get the right amount of daylight and fresh air, are surrounded by objects to peck, straw bales they can jump on, with perches.”

A spokesperson from the National Pig Association also told Farming Online, “Operations rearing 2,500 finisher pigs or 750 sows are often small family-run farms. Larger farms are, rightly so, strictly regulated to ensure the risk of damage to environment is minimised. NPA would like to emphasise that it is not the size of the farm that has the biggest impact on animal health and welfare, but the quality of the stockmanship.”

However, Emma Slawinski, Director of Campaigns at farm animal welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming said, “There is a worrying trend towards intensive farming [in the UK]. Bringing animals off the land and cramming them in to squalid, inhumane factory farms is not only cruel to animals but also has far reaching effects on human health, wildlife and the planet.
 
“If animals cannot remain healthy within the conditions in which they are placed, then it is time to take a closer look at our farming systems. Moving animals away from the countryside into cages and crowded sheds may seem like a space-saving idea but this ignores the fact that vast amounts of land are used elsewhere to grow food for them – often in huge crop fields doused in chemical pesticides and fertilisers – squeezing wildlife out, as industrial farming methods sweep the planet.
 
“Counties we would likely associate with some the greenest and idyllic landscapes - ideal for pasture-reared animals - are in fact the counties with some of the worst figures of indoor reared livestock. A few examples of these include; Shropshire, Norfolk and North Yorkshire, ranked as 2nd, 3rd, and 6th respectively, for the highest numbers of indoor-reared livestock overall. With so much land available it makes no sense that the ‘preferred’ choice should be to keep animals in confinement, with little or no enrichment or access to sunshine and fresh air leaving them largely unable to express their natural behaviours.”
 
The full Bureau of Investigative Journalism report can be read here.