Chicken is a daily staple because we are paying half what people paid for it in the 70s - we are paying the price through damage to our rivers and wildlife.
People tend to see chicken as a clean meat. It’s low in fat, high in protein, the birds don’t burp methane like cows, and they require much less land.
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A good choice for a healthy and sustainable diet, right? Wrong. Chicken has a dirty secret.
Resolving the climate crisis does mean eating less and better beef, but sustainability is not just about reducing carbon. That view completely ignores the ecological disaster happening in British rivers – a nightmare that Brits are blind to.
Farmed
A recent independent opinion poll organised as part of the Soil Association’s Stop Killing Our Rivers campaign found just 15% of people in the UK realise farming is the biggest polluter of rivers.
Sewage, plastics, and litter are wreaking havoc in our waterways, and all need tackling. But on average farming is the biggest culprit – and factory farmed chicken plays a huge role.
The chicken industry is a leading cause of “dead zones” in the River Wye, which is approaching the point of ecological collapse despite being one of our most protected rivers.
Here the muck from 20 million chickens living in the catchment has contributed to pollution that has killed crucial plants along at least 70 miles of the river.
And it’s not just the Wye at risk. The number of chickens being farmed for meat in England and Wales has risen by a whopping one million birds every month for the last decade, on average. Today, it has reached more than a billion birds per year.
Waste
Nearly all (95 per cent) of these chickens live in intensive poultry units (IPUs) which house at least 40,000 birds. They live for little over a month, often suffering leg and heart conditions, and their muck is only cleaned out when they are sent for slaughter.
This manure – which is high in a nutrient called phosphate – is spread on land and when it rains gets washed into rivers.
Overtime, a build-up of phosphate causes algae to bloom, removing oxygen from the water and blocking out sunlight. This stops the growth of other aquatic plants, wiping out habitats and food for animals and fish.
Our analysis found IPUs are concentrated in 10 other river catchments in Norfolk, Shropshire, Gloucestershire, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Herefordshire and Powys. Concerningly, these rivers are already failing on government phosphate targets.
Although the British Poultry Council told Wicked Leeks that birds housed indoors have less of an impact as their waste does not go on the land – this is false.
Business
When we looked at Environment Agency issued permits, in the vast majority of cases, the permits stated that litter is spread on land.
Chicken is a daily staple because we are paying half what people paid for it in the 70s - we are paying the price through damage to our rivers and wildlife.
We must stop making excuses for factory farming.
If we do not turn the tide on this trend – and that means farming and eating fewer chickens – the Wye could die within the next few years and we will see other rivers suffering the same fate.
That is why our petition calls for a UK-wide ban on new intensive poultry units – and government support for farmers to exit this damaging industry, alongside work to spark diet change.
Wildlife
Chicken production in the Wye is concentrated in the hands of Avara, a single company part-owned by Cargill, a huge global business.
So, the farmers don’t hold the most powerful cards, it’s the processor alongside the retailers who are buying product.
These businesses must be reined in by government, and farmers need a viable alternative.
That means the supply chain paying a fair price for high welfare production, and retailers and government incentivising nature-friendly practices.
Chicken was once a rare luxury on the British dinner table and now is a daily staple because we are paying half what people paid for it in the 70s. It is artificially cheap. We are paying the price through damage to our rivers and wildlife.
Destruction
Though consumer demand has risen, agribusiness corporations investing in intensive soya crops have sought a market for these commodity crops.
Industrial breeds of chicken, which grow so fast that soya is the most cost-effective feed for them, have provided this market.
There is a symbiotic relationship between agrochemical companies, feed traders, and the factory farmed livestock sector.
And soya production is also driving deforestation and pesticide poisonings in the precious Latin American ecosystems like the Amazon and Cerrado.
It is time for change, the secret is out. Our poll shows 75 per cent of people would be willing to eat less chicken if it meant cleaner UK rivers and less environmental destruction overseas. And more than 30,000 people have signed our petition calling for a ban on new IPUs.
Mammoth
It is simply impossible to sustainably manage the sheer number of chickens and the muck they are producing.
Avara and the government have announced plans to mitigate damage to the Wye by transporting waste out of the catchment, but that puts other rivers at risk.
We are pleased Defra’s new River Wye Action Plan acknowledges that intensive agriculture and the poultry industry is having a devastating impact on the Wye.
But it is dealing with the symptoms and not the cause – and it is not looking at the full UK picture.
We need a coordinated approach between national governments which tackles the issues risking the health of multiple rivers across the UK where chicken is being produced on a mammoth scale.
Intensive
We do not have time for sticking plasters and false solutions that kick the can down the road.
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For the sake of farmers who need resilient, sustainable businesses, and all the wildlife that depends on rivers like otters, kingfishers and dragonflies, we must act now.
We must halt and start reversing the damage that has been caused or we risk more dead zones in our rivers.
That means an immediate ban on new intensive poultry units across all the UK.
This Author
Cathy Cliff is campaigns advisor at the Soil Association charity. She has authored reports around sustainable and healthy diets, focusing especially on the impacts of intensive poultry farming and ultra-processed diets.
