Records show there are now more than 1200 megafarms operating across the UK overall, each confining at least 125,000 broiler chickens, 82,000 egg laying birds, 2500 pigs, 700 dairy cows or 1000 beef cattle. The number of such farms has increased by 21% since 2017, despite the-then environment secretary, Michael Gove, telling parliament that “we will not have US-style farming in this country.”

The largest individual UK megafarms hold more than 1.4 million chickens or 22,000 pigs or fatten up to 6000 beef cattle a year.

Some of the megafarms have faced allegations over animal cruelty and poor welfare standards, whilst others have been linked to water and air pollution. The firms behind some of the megafarms have also been implicated in the spread of potentially harmful diseases, including salmonella and campylobacter, which can be spread via contaminated meat or eggs.  

Major supermarkets and fast food chains are amongst those supplied by British poultry, pig and cattle megafarms. Some experts say rising demand for cheap meat and dairy products is fuelling the spread of such farms, but note that food companies rarely admit sourcing from such facilities.

In some regions, the proliferation of industrial livestock farms has sparked opposition in recent years. In Herefordshire and Powys, landmark legal action is looming over the pollution of the Wye river with chicken farm waste. In Norfolk, thousands of objections were recently lodged against plans for a major poultry and pig megafarm in the village of Methwold. The farm was rejected.

With mounting concern over the poor state of Britain's rivers, the quality of our air, as well as fears around avian flu, antibiotic resistance, and the wider impacts on conventional farmers and the countryside, industrial farming is coming under scrutiny as never before.   

Critics say the current direction of travel should concern us all. They warn that the future we are currently facing, one of environmental and climate degradation and serious threats to both human and animal health, couldn't be farther from the green and pleasant land image of UK farming that has prevailed for so long.