A ‘Muck Map’ that reveals the areas most at risk from factory farm pollution has been created by campaigners to highlight growing concerns around farming waste in rivers.
The research from Compassion in World Farming, Friends of the Earth and Sustain shows where the most animal manure from factory farms is produced, and also where it is spread, indicating the river catchments most at risk from agricultural pollution.
The Severn, Great Ouse, Ouse (Yorkshire), Norfolk Rivers Group, Trent and Wye are listed as rivers most likely to be affected by manure from factory farms.
Up to 33,450 tonnes of manure is produced in the UK every day by pig and poultry factory farms, while the number of pig and poultry farms increased by 12% from 2016 to 2023.
The map can be found here.
The campaign groups said factory farms were “overwhelming communities with pollution, noise, smell and toxic air”.
“The spread of slurry from factory farms in England has already contributed to every region being polluted with nitrogen,” said Anthony Field, head of Compassion in World Farming’s UK office. “It’s so bad in some places that protected areas are being damaged and this pollution must be offset to allow house building to go ahead.”
Read more: How can the food industry clean up our rivers?
The organisations added that stronger and clearer rules were needed to protect rivers and wildlife from further harm.
Planning rules are currently under review but currently do not encourage councils to refuse applications for new factory farms where pollution is already a problem, despite the recommendation of an Environmental Audit Committee inquiry in 2023 that they should do so.
“Our planning rules have failed to prevent factory farm corporations from flooding our rivers with pollution,” said Ruth Westcott, climate and nature emergency manager at Sustain. “Local councils and communities are desperate to protect their rivers but they are facing a wave of applications for large and dangerously polluting units.
“The new review of our national planning policies means that government has an opportunity to ensure new planning rules support councils to protect their communities better.”
She also called for changes to ensure that farmers are able to make a decent living from nature friendly, agroecological farming as at the moment they “have little choice but to intensify”.
“Factory farms are silently taking over the UK’s countryside, driven by powerful agribusinesses chasing profit at all costs,” said Clare Oxborrow, Friends of the Earth’s corporate accountability campaigner.
“Not only are these companies polluting our precious rivers and wildlife, they are driving devastation to habitats and livelihoods in South America, where the diverse Cerrado ecosystem is being razed to produce soy to feed pigs and chickens in the UK and around the world.”
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