CHICKEN BOOM ‘THREATENS RIVERS’
Rivers in seven counties are at risk of becoming ‘dead zones’ as poultry numbers rise, warns the Soil Association
Industrial chicken production in England and Wales has risen by the equivalent of one million birds per month for the last decade, putting rivers in at least seven counties at risk of becoming “dead zones deplete of wildlife”, says a new report by the Soil Association (SA).
The organic farming group is calling for the number of chickens in intensive poultry units (IPUs) to halve across England and Wales over the next 25 years, in order to save rivers from ecological death. Roughly 1 billion chickens pass through these units every year. The UK’s poultry consumption has nearly doubled in 30 years, to more than 30kg per person in 2023.
Intensive chicken rearing produces thousands of tonnes of phosphate-rich manure every year; much of this is spread on fields surrounding the farms and then leaches into rivers. The influx of nutrients into rivers causes algal blooms that deprive other organisms in the water of oxygen and creates a thick blanket that stops sunlight reaching plants. Rivers affected include the Wye on the England-Wales border, the Swale in Yorkshire and the Thet in Norfolk.
The SA is calling for the Government to deny permission for any more broiler chicken units, and then address ways in which farmers can use more environmentally friendly methods of producing food.
Chicken processor Avara Foods says the science shows that peak excess phosphorous predates the rise of intensive poultry. “As part of our plans to mitigate any potential impact in the Wye, from January we started exporting 75% of the manure from our supply chain out of catchment, targeting energy plants and areas of the country where the soil is in phosphate deficit,” it said. It was also piloting “higher soil and nutrient standards” on farms that want to use manure on their land.