The Hidden Harms of Factory Farms: How They Cost Taxpayers Millions
November 2024
“Factory farms have failed to make our food cheaper, failed to improve our food security, soaked up taxpayer money through subsidies, imposed significant costs to the environment and public health, and destroyed thousands of farming jobs.
– Thomas “Richie” Manandhar-Richardson
Executive Summary
Livestock farming in the United Kingdom is very different from a few short decades ago. Today, most livestock are consolidated into large factory farms, which have replaced small family farms, especially for pigs and poultry. Although the rise of the factory farm was supposed to make meat cheaper for consumers, it has instead imposed significant costs on society.
This report quantifies the hidden costs of pig and poultry factory farms to the British taxpayer – using publicly-available UK Government data, as well as an original survey of 1,000 UK residents.
We estimate the total amount of the costs to be over £1.2 billion annually. This includes:
- Subsidies: We estimate 85% of subsidies that go to chicken and pig farmers are consumed by factory farms, amounting to £269M a year.
- Environmental Pollution: The cost of air and water pollution from factory farms is estimated to be £518M.
- Public Health Problems: The cost of increased respiratory deaths attributable to living near large factory farms is estimated at £92M.
- Lost Farming Jobs: We estimate that factory farms have destroyed 14,000 farming jobs with annual salaries not paid valued at £333M.
Furthermore, we find little evidence that factory farms make products significantly cheaper, nor that they increase food security. On the contrary, there is no clear pattern of more industrialised animal products getting cheaper than less industrialised products. Moreover, the vast amount of feed that livestock require means that increasing UK meat production means we import more food – not less.
Factory farms have failed to make our food cheaper, failed to improve our food security, soaked up taxpayer money through subsidies, imposed significant costs to the environment and public health, and destroyed thousands of farming jobs.
Policymakers must consider the impact of the £1.2 billion we pay in hidden costs, and restructure incentives to move us towards a more sustainable food production system that benefits all stakeholders, including consumers, farmers, and local communities. In particular, mandatory labels on factory-farmed products should be introduced without delay.
| Our Policy Recommendations |
|---|
| Do not allow the building or expansion of new megafarm facilities (facilities so big they require DEFRA environmental permits), especially in areas that are vulnerable to river pollution. |
| Restructure subsidies to reward smaller-scale farmers who grow healthier and more environmentally friendly foods, who respect our countryside and champion higher animal welfare based on the 5 freedoms. |
| However the subsidy system is restructured, it should be transparently communicated to the UK public, as there is currently widespread confusion about how the system operates and how many subsidies livestock and factory farms receive. |
| Limit the ability of factory farms to use taxpayer subsidies to export meat more cheaply, ensuring that subsidies enhance UK food security. |
| DEFRA should implement monitoring and restriction of the number of “zero grazing” cattle systems in the UK. |
| DEFRA should monitor animal agriculture jobs specifically, by farm type and animal, to allow us to directly assess the impact of industrial animal agriculture on farming jobs. |
