Write to the Farming Minister and ask him to suppot UK farmers, not big corporations!

Email the Farming Minister and ask him to support British farmers, not corporations!

There are well over 1,500 factory chicken farms - aka ‘Intensive Poultry Units’ - in the UK, and the number is rising.

Not only are these factory farms heavily reliant on soy-based feed which is contributing to global deforestation, and polluting our waterways with their nutrient-rich waste, but they are also controlled by large corporations. Analysis from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that half of the UK’s chickens are now being produced by companies fully or partly controlled by US agribusiness giants such as Cargill.

While they ‘partner’ with UK farmers, these corporations operate vertically integrated systems in which they control every aspect of the supply chain; from feed supply, to rearing the birds, to processing, sales and distribution.

Last week Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner proudly announced a ‘£160m boost for the UK poultry industry’ as the UK opens up new export markets to South Africa. But is this really good news for UK farmers, or for the multinational corporations who control the UK’s industrial poultry sector?

Write to him today and urge him to focus on the resilience of the UK’s food supply and support UK farmers who are rearing poultry in agroecological soy-free systems.

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We are writing to you today as a union representing agroecological farmers and growers, on behalf of farmers, environmentalists, animal welfare advocates and UK consumers and citizens concerned about the future of our food system. 
 
We welcome your enthusiasm in supporting better livelihoods for UK farmers. However, we are deeply concerned by your recent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/160m-boost-for-uk-poultry-industry-as-exports-to-south-africa-restart?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications-topic&utm_source=31c2843e-9021-4b8f-a851-5b4072d278a1&utm_content=immediately">announcement</a> that your department is focusing on opening trade opportunities for the corporate-controlled UK intensive poultry sector as a means to support farming livelihoods. 
 
Every aspect of this announcement goes against the principles of food sovereignty, and does nothing to help build a resilient and sustainable food system here in the UK. 
 
<a href="https://www.soilassociation.org/media/22930/peak-poultry-briefing-for-policy-makers.pdf">95%</a> of the UK’s chickens are reared in intensive units, and <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2020-04-07/half-of-uk-chickens-produced-by-us-agribusiness/">research</a> has shown that half of the chickens reared in the UK are produced by companies who are either fully or partially controlled by US agribusinesses corporations. There are now well over 1,000 Intensive Poultry Units (IPUs) in the UK, and the number continues to rise. These IPUs operate as part of vertically integrated poultry supply chains, in which all aspects of the supply chain are controlled by large poultry supply corporations who contract farmers to raise the poultry. 
 
As the 2023 Landworkers’ Alliance ‘<a href="https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Digital-Soy-No-More-.pdf">Soy No More</a>’ report outlined, not only are these IPU’s reliant on soy-based feed which contributes to deforestation overseas, but their nutrient-rich waste is also causing widespread <a href="https://www.cieh.org/ehn/environmental-protection/2024/may/uk-s-chicken-megafarms-are-fuelling-rise-in-ammonia-emissions/">pollution</a> in rivers and waterways across the UK, especially in Wales. 
 
Looking more broadly, we are also concerned about your enthusiasm for growing the export market as a means of supporting UK farmers and improving the resilience of the sector, as illustrated by your <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/160m-boost-for-uk-poultry-industry-as-exports-to-south-africa-restart">statement</a>  “We’re one step further on our journey to securing better trade deals for UK farmers, improving industry resilience and kickstarting our food exports.”
 
To improve industry resilience, we should be supporting livestock farmers to use UK-grown by-products to produce meat that will be sold on domestic markets, not opening up export markets for multinational corporations who dominate the UK poultry meat sector. 
 
The ‘Soy No More’ report also highlights why we should be supporting smaller-scale poultry farmers to use by-products of UK grown pulses to produce ‘rainforest-friendly’ chicken and poultry products. There are many opportunities for supporting and opening up internal markets for poultry farming which is in alignment with a climate and nature friendly food system. 
 
 These are some examples:
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Dynamic public procurement systems would enable UK farmers and growers to supply nutritious, ecologically produced food to local schools and hospitals 
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Investment in UK pulse production is needed to increase the domestic supply of alternative protein sources for human consumption. By-products and co-products of this pulse production can then be used as a replacement for soy in animal feed. 
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Investment in Research and Development for alternative poultry feed systems.
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You can read further Policy Recommendations in the <a href="https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Digital-Soy-No-More-.pdf">Soy No More report</a>. 
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We ask that you meet together with UK farmer representatives and concerned consumers to create a plan for how our poultry sector can support greater food self-sufficiency, more agroecological farming systems, and fairer prices for farmers.
 
Access to healthy, affordable, and ecologically produced food is a basic human right, and it is the responsibility of the government to protect that right by securing a sustainable independent domestic food supply, underpinned by logical trade and farming policies, and free of corporate capture for future generations.
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