Controversial chicken ‘megafarms’ given millions in government handouts

The UK government funnelled millions of pounds in taxpayers’ money to intensive poultry farmers near the Wye and Severn rivers despite the industry’s links to spiralling water and air pollution in the region, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) can reveal.

At least £14m of public funds was paid out over a three-year period to farm operators in the counties surrounding the rivers: Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire, Monmouthshire, Worcestershire and Powys.

Many of the recipients operate so-called “megafarms” – vast units that can hold upwards of a million birds – which have multiplied in the region in recent years. The chicken-farming industry has been widely blamed for polluting the River Wye, prompting a public outcry.

The findings come ahead of a landmark court hearing this week where campaigners hope to overturn Shropshire council’s decision to approve planning permission for a new megafarm north of Shrewsbury.

“Factory farming is now widely acknowledged as one of the greatest causes of the widespread pollution of our rivers,” Charles Watson, chairman of NGO River Action, told TBIJ. “The notion that the very same polluters [have received] taxpayers’ cash via government subsidies is nothing short of outrageous.”

He said the findings “made a total mockery of any pretence of practising effective environmental regulation in this country”.

Alison Caffyn, a campaigner who has led efforts to bring the judicial review in Shropshire, said: “Broiler [meat chicken] units are intensive, very profitable enterprises, serving multinational corporations. Many of them have been causing significant environmental impacts affecting local communities for years. It's frustrating to find out how this industrial system of meat production is being subsidised by the taxpayer.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: “For too long, the River Wye and River Severn have suffered from extreme pollution, leading to devastating effects on wildlife and impacting all those who live along riverbanks.”

They said Defra has launched an Independent Water Commission and a joint research programme with the Welsh government to improve water quality and tackle all sources of pollution in the River Wye, including agriculture.

A National Farmers Union spokesperson said: “Britain’s farmers want to further improve the health of our rivers and recognise their businesses have a major role to play, particularly those in sensitive catchments.” They said there has been progress on waste management and fertiliser, but more needs to be done and that this requires government funding.

Counting the cash

TBIJ used public records and data obtained via Freedom of Information requests to identify recipients of the subsidies and cross-referenced them with databases of “intensive” poultry farms (units that hold at least 40,000 birds and require a permit to operate).

Between 2021 and 2023, 112 individual farmers or businesses involved in intensive poultry farming across counties within the two river catchments received a total of £14,162,910, TBIJ’s analysis shows. This means each farmer received, on average, more than £126,000 in public funds in the period.

Some of the payments were made under the UK’s Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) for farmers – originally tied to the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – which in part paid farmers based on how much land they farmed. It was designed to act as a safety net and supplement their other incomes. BPS was wound down in 2023 and replaced by a similar system of so-called “delinked payments” which is due to run until 2027.

The NFU said: “Historically, indoor poultry businesses have not been eligible for BPS. Some poultry enterprises operate as part of a diversified farm business, so it’s likely that any BPS claims were for another element of the businesses, such as arable production.”

In recent years there has been a move towards developing subsidies that pay farmers for “public goods”, such as environmental or animal welfare performance, rather than payments based on land ownership alone. But the government recently closed a flagship sustainable farming scheme – the Sustainable Farm Incentive – to more applicants, and campaigners want the government to commit to funding green agriculture.

Rob Percival, head of food policy at the Soil Association, told TBIJ: “The government urgently needs to get a grip on the economics of nature-friendly farming. Public money should be supporting higher welfare and sustainable production, not propping up the intensive chicken industry that is killing UK river habitats, as this investigation suggests.”

Industry breeding ground

Of the six counties, Herefordshire was where intensive farm operators received the most public funds, with more than £5.4m in payments, followed by Shropshire (£3.4m), Powys (£2.5m), Gloucestershire (£1.7m), Worcestershire (£750,000) and Monmouthshire (£220,000).

At least 75 of the subsidy recipients operate farms that are so large they are regarded as megafarms. At least 10 of the farms hold more than 400,000 birds, records show, with the largest holding almost a million – making it one of the UK’s biggest such units.

The recent proliferation of such farms in the UK has prompted concerns around pollution, animal welfare and disease, as well as the economic impacts on conventional farmers.

In the Wye and Severn catchments, the concentration of large-scale poultry farms has been linked to river contamination from farm waste and air pollution from ammonia emissions. Last year TBIJ revealed how air pollution was surging in counties near the Wye. The contamination of the river with farm waste is the subject of forthcoming legal action.

Oliver Holland, a partner at the law firm Leigh Day, said: “The legal claim we are leading on behalf of people in the Wye catchment alleges that rivers and the wildlife they support are being severely impacted by industrial poultry rearing and our clients are reporting serious impacts on their wellbeing, businesses and properties as a result.”

Internal Environment Agency records seen by TBIJ show there were at least 200 environmental infractions identified during inspections on industrial farms across Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire in recent years.

Many of these breaches were related to the handling and disposal of farm waste, as well as emissions to air, water and land. Others highlighted cases of sheds being overstocked with birds on some farms, and poor animal health conditions.

An Environment Agency spokesperson told TBIJ it was committed to protecting waterways, including the Wye and Severn, and was working to reduce agricultural pollution across the country.