British rivers filled with almost 34,000 tonnes of toxic farming waste

Factory farms are overwhelming section communities with their pollution, noise, odor and toxic aerial – endangering the wellness and payment of section people, wildlife and the environment

The standard of toxic cultivation waste from the biggest mill farms blighting England’s rivers has been revealed for the archetypal time.

Up to 33,450 tonnes of manure is produced by UK chickenhearted and pig mill farms each day, caller probe from Compassion successful World Farming, Friends of the Earth and Sustain has found.

The groups warned however the Severn, Great Ouse, Ouse (Yorkshire), Norfolk Rivers Group, Trent and Wye are the rivers astir impacted by the dispersed of slurry - an denotation of the stream catchments astir astatine hazard from cultivation pollution.

Compassion successful World Farming said cultivation discarded is the astir communal signifier of contamination preventing rivers from achieving bully ecological presumption and is liable for 70% of nitrate contamination successful the UK.

River h2o prime has been declining crossed the UK, yet, readying rules for England bash not promote councils to garbage applications for caller mill farms wherever contamination is already a problem, contempt the proposal of an Environmental Audit Committee enquiry successful 2023 that they should bash so.

Anthony Field, Head of Compassion successful World Farming’s UK Office, said: “Housing ample numbers of dairy cows, laying hens, broiler chickens and pigs permanently indoors oregon without entree to pasture is simply a important root of pollution. The dispersed of slurry from mill farms successful England has already contributed to each portion being polluted with nitrogen. It’s truthful atrocious successful immoderate places that protected areas are being damaged and this contamination indispensable beryllium offset to let location gathering to spell ahead.

“This ludicrous concern indispensable halt immediately. Core Defra priorities are to guarantee nature’s betterment and to cleanable up Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas. A halfway precedence for Angela Rayner MP arsenic the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, is to fulfil the caller lodging targets. Government departments indispensable commencement moving unneurotic to enactment section communities and let section councils to cull readying applications for caller mill farms. Failure to enactment volition person a terrible interaction connected the clime and quality crises.”

Compassion successful World Farming said mill farms are the top root of carnal cruelty successful the UK – wherever each year, implicit a cardinal animals are raised successful overcrowded barns, feedlots oregon cages. The fig of pig and poultry mill farms accrued by 12% betwixt 2016 and 2023. National readying rules proceed to let mill farms to beryllium built adjacent successful areas already precise polluted.

The firm, Cranswick, a FTSE 250 institution that supplies the UK's large supermarkets, is facing absorption from 2 Norfolk villages, Methwold and Feltwell, aft it submitted plans for the UK's biggest mill farm. The 2 farms would clasp up to 48,000 pigs and 6.7 cardinal chickens a year. Increasingly, mill farms are overwhelming section communities with their pollution, noise, odor and toxic aerial – endangering the wellness and payment of section people, wildlife and the environment.

Nutrient contamination means that soils successful each portion successful England are successful nitrogen surplus; immoderate person much than doubly what they tin absorb. If intensive livestock farming were to proceed to grow astatine its existent rate, yearly nitrate accumulation could beryllium up by 32% connected 2016 levels by 2028. The nutrient contamination situation is truthful terrible that location gathering successful 74 section authorities successful England has been stalled, with galore of the areas that are excessively polluted to physique corresponding with mill farming hotspots.

Friends of the Earth’s firm accountability campaigner, Clare Oxborrow, said: “Factory farms are silently taking implicit the UK’s countryside, driven by almighty agribusinesses chasing nett astatine each costs. Not lone are these companies polluting our precious rivers and wildlife, they are driving devastation to habitats and livelihoods successful South America, wherever the divers Cerrado ecosystem is being razed to nutrient soy to provender pigs and chickens successful the UK and astir the world.

“We indispensable halt companies harming quality and communities, present and overseas. That’s wherefore we’re calling for a caller Business, Human Rights and Environment Act to clasp companies to relationship and necessitate them to forestall biology and quality rights abuses successful their proviso chains.”

Ruth Westcott, Climate and Nature Emergency Manager astatine Sustain, said: “Our readying rules person failed to forestall mill workplace corporations from flooding our rivers with pollution. Local councils and communities are hopeless to support their rivers but they are facing a question of applications for ample and dangerously polluting units. The caller reappraisal of our nationalist readying policies means that the authorities has an accidental to guarantee caller readying rules enactment councils to support their communities better.

But we request to bash much than betterment readying policy, due to the fact that galore farmers person small prime but to intensify. Farmers and workplace workers request to gain a decent surviving from quality friendly, agroecological farming. That means regularisation to guarantee farmers get a just woody and offering conscionable routes to diversify retired of intensive livestock.”