More than 6,500 People Join Campaign Oppposing U.K. Factory Farm

by Sarah Parsons · 2011-07-11 08:23:00 UTC
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More than 6,500 people have signed an online petition asking the Derbyshire County Council to vote against a proposed factory pig farm in the village of Foston, Derbyshire. The campaign urges all U.K. residents to sign the petition on Change.org and register their opposition on the Derbyshire County Council’s Web site. More than 7,500 people have spoken out against the factory farm on the County Council’s Web site.

“Cheap pork is flooding U.K. supermarket shelves from mainland Europe where, according to Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), 90 percent of the farms are not obeying European Union animal welfare legislation,” said Tracy Worcester, director of the documentary Pig Business. “Instead of trying to compete with these cheap imports by building mega farms with a few small improvements in terms of animal welfare and green credentials, our government should be ensuring that our small-scale family farms receive payments that reflect their benefits to society.”

The petition on Change.org, the world’s fastest-growing platform for social change, was started by the makers of Pig Business, a documentary that explores the health, animal welfare and environmental impacts of industrial-scale pig farms. If approved, Midland Pig Producers’ farm would become one of the largest factory farms in all of the U.K., housing more than 25,000 pigs and sending more than 1,000 to slaughter every week.

“If the Derbyshire County Council approves Midland Pig Producers’ operation, it would open the door for more factory farms in the U.K.,” said Sarah Parsons, Change.org’s Sustainable Food Editor. “The factory farm might bring big business to Midland Pig Producers, but it would devastate the area’s environment and residents’ quality of life.”

As Pig Business highlights, factory farm owners regularly feed their animals antibiotics, spawning the growth of drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA ST398, a new disease which passes from pigs to humans. These industrial-scale agricultural operations also pollute air and waterways, produce noxious odors, decrease property values in the surrounding areas and put small, ecologically minded producers out of business.

Many notable environmentalists and organizations like The Environment Protection Agency, The Soil Association, local MP Heather Wheeler, and actor Dominic West have all publicly opposed a factory pig farm in Foston. A decision on the Midland Pig Producers’ agricultural operation will likely come as early as September.

Photo credit: The Pug Father via Flickr

Sarah Parsons is Change.org's Sustainable Food Editor. Her work has appeared in Popular Science, OnEarth, Audubon and Plenty.

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