British Meat Production: Perceptions vs Reality
March 2025
“The UK set up almost one factory farm per week between 2017 and 2022, according to shocking numbers in a report by World Animal Protection. The report reflects the bleak reality of meat production in a country which considers itself a leader in animal welfare. – Chris Bryant
Public Perceptions vs. Reality
Most Brits imagine that their meat is coming from high welfare sources – especially if it’s produced in the UK. But the picture which British consumers are led to believe is very different from the reality of UK meat production.
Our 2024 summer survey asked the UK public to estimate the percentage of chickens, and of all farmed animals, which are on factory farms. The average estimate for all animals was 58%, while the average estimate for chickens was 68%. As shown, this represents a severe underestimate of the percentage of animals which are factory farmed.
According to the World Animal Protection report, 5% of UK-reared chickens are RSPCA-certified, while 1% are organic-certified. This means that 94% of UK-reared chickens meet the legal minimum standards only. Since chickens account for the vast majority of farmed land animals, this means that 93% of all UK-reared farmed animals meet the legal minimum standards only.
Pork, Bacon, Gammon & Sausages
- The UK was intensively farming 5.2 million pigs in June 2022
- This is 220,000 more pigs than in June 2017
- The average UK pig farm has 519 pigs
Chicken & Eggs
- The UK was farming 188 million chickens in June 2022
- This is 6.4 million more chickens than in June 2017
- The average UK poultry farm has 4,604 birds
The UK’s Worst 10 Factory Farming Regions
We identified the UK’s top 10 regions by number of intensive livestock farms based on publicly-available data on 516 intensive livestock farms listed on DEFRA’s Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR). This represents about one third of the farms included in World Animal Protection’s analysis.
- The UK region with the most factory farms is Shrewsbury. The region, which is in the West Midlands, has no fewer than 52 intensive livestock farms, equivalent to 152 factory farms per million inhabitants.
- There are also unusually high numbers of factory farms in Ipswich (37), Norwich (35), Doncaster (35), Peterborough (35), Lincoln (33), York (32), Llandrindod Wells (26), Llandudno (21), and Nottingham (20).
- The UK region with the most factory farms per capita is Llandrindod Wells. The region, which is in Wales, has 26 intensive livestock farms, equivalent to 522 factory farms per million inhabitants.
- There are also unusually high numbers of factory farms per million inhabitants in Shrewsbury (152) and Lincoln (113).
What’s next for British farming?
British farming is trending in a worrying direction, with factory farms being established on an almost weekly basis. The reality of British farming is getting ever further from our cultural imagination’s depiction of England’s green and pleasant land.
This trend is bad for animals, but it is also bad for farmers. Since the 1960s, two thirds of jobs in British agriculture have disappeared. During the same period, the UK’s meat production almost doubled.
The political alliance to oppose factory farming, therefore, could come from an unusual alliance between two groups which cut across the established norms of British politics: small-scale, high-welfare, British livestock farmers — and vegans.
