Frequently asked questions

Find answers to common questions people ask about factory farming and the work CAFF is doing to end it.

Understanding factory farming

  • Factory farming is the industrial rearing of animals in intensive systems where large numbers are kept in crowded conditions, often with little or no access to the outdoors.

    In the UK, there is no official legal definition of a “factory farm.”  Instead, regulators use thresholds to decide when a farm is classed as “intensive” and requires an environmental permit - for example, sites with more than 40,000 birds (such as chickens, turkeys, or ducks) or 2,000 pigs. However, many farms below these limits still use factory farming methods. Intensive dairy farms, fish farms, or slightly smaller pig and poultry units may not need a permit, but the animals are still raised in industrial conditions.

    On factory farms, animals may be:

    • routinely confined in cages, crates, or crowded areas,

    • selectively bred for unnaturally fast and harmful growth,

    • unable to carry out natural behaviours, and/or

    • subjected to painful mutilations (such as beak trimming or tail docking) to counteract the welfare problems caused by intensive farming.

    Today, around 85% of farmed animals in the UK are trapped in factory farms.

  • Factory farms cause immense suffering for animals, pollute our environment, and damage human health. Animals are crowded into sheds or cages, bred to grow unnaturally fast, and denied any natural life. These farms drive pollution, antibiotic overuse, and climate breakdown - harms that affect us all. They also cause terrible odours and air pollution that negatively impacts the lives of local residents.

  • Not animals, not local communities, and not the planet. Factory farms create pollution, foul smells, and health risks for neighbours. They concentrate wealth in the hands of a few corporations, while smaller farmers struggle. The only real “winners” are the corporations driving unsustainable consumption.

Concerns people raise about stopping factory farming

  • Factory farms don’t provide many jobs. Even huge farms usually employ just one or two staff, because they are designed to maximise output with as little labour as possible. Machines and automation have replaced traditional farm workers, and farming jobs have actually been devastated by intensification. A study found that between 1961 and 2019, UK meat production increased by 87% yet over the same time agricultural employment reduced by 68% (https://bryantresearch.co.uk/insight-items/big-ag-lie/).

  • Factory farms don’t necessarily produce cheap food in the long run. The price may be low at the checkout, but we pay in other ways – subsidies, health costs and pollution clean-up.

  • Factory farming makes food security worse, not better. Over half of UK-grown cereals are fed to animals, and nearly a quarter go to poultry alone - land and resources that could grow food for people instead. We are creating a food security issue by having so many animals that need to be fed.

    Animals convert feed to protein very inefficiently. Meanwhile, factory farming drives deforestation, climate breakdown, and water pollution - all of which threaten long-term food security. Real food security means investing in sustainable crops for people, not more factory farms. Building more factory farms only locks us deeper into an unsustainable system.

  • No. Factory farming is one of the least efficient ways to produce food - huge amounts of crops, land, and water are wasted feeding animals instead of people. We could feed more people, with less environmental damage, by moving away from this system.

    The EAT-Lancet Commission’s report outlines the need to move towards a Planetary Health Diet, which emphasises doubling the consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, and dramatically reducing meat intake. Such a diet would improve health outcomes and allow us to live within planetary boundaries of freshwater, biodiversity, and energy use.

  • It’s the opposite. Factory farming drives deforestation, water pollution, antibiotic overuse, and greenhouse gas emissions. It squanders crops and land to feed animals rather than people. It’s damaging to the planet, humans and animals.

Understanding the planning process

  • The applicant submits a planning application, with expert reports, to the local council. Statutory bodies and the public are consulted, and the applicant's agent responds to concerns. The application is then decided by a planning officer or by a councillor-led committee. Refusals can be appealed, and approvals can be challenged by judicial review.

  • The local council. Anyone building or expanding a factory farm must get planning permission from it. The decision is made either by a planning officer or by the elected councillors on the planning committee.

  • The applicant is the person building the farm, the factory farm developer. The agent acts on their behalf and submits the planning design statement and the environmental, air quality and odour assessments.

  • The application comes with numerous reports commissioned from experts. These include a planning design statement and environmental, air quality and odour assessments, all collated and submitted by the applicant's agent.

  • The application is opened for consultation. Statutory bodies such as the highways team, the Environment Agency, and water and energy companies can review it and comment. Members of the public can also submit comments of support or objection. Whilst a deadline is set for the end of the consultation, CAFF has found comments can be still submitted after this date for consideration.

  • Public bodies or government departments that review the application and raise concerns. Examples include the highways team, the Environment Agency, and water and energy companies.

  • Yes. Members of the public can submit an objection in writing. The planning officer then asks the agent to address the objectors' concerns. The agent may submit updated or additional assessments or make minor changes. Objectors can review the updated material and resubmit their objections.

  • You can submit an objection to a factory farm application on the local council’s website by finding the application’s reference number and submitting a comment on it.

    Alternatively, you can use CAFF’s easy to use Campaigns web page to find an application by county and submit an objection to the factory farm from here – you can use a templated objection letter, edit it or write your own.

  • Applications are typically approved because there is a strong incentive within the system in favour of development. Factory farms are considered "agriculture" rather than industrial developments, and planning officers generally see them as appropriate for the countryside.

  • Agriculture. This benefits applicants, because planning officers generally consider agricultural developments appropriate for the countryside.

  • Unlike housing developments, factory farm applications are rarely rejected because of traffic concerns.

  • It can be either. A planning officer (a civil servant) can decide by delegated decision. Alternatively, the application can be "called in" and decided by the planning committee, where elected councillors debate it and vote to approve or refuse.

  • The grounds on which councillors must base their decision. They include local and national policies and can include, but aren’t limited to, impact on neighbours, highway safety, nature conservation, policy alignment or effects on listed buildings.

  • The applicant can appeal. The appeal goes to the planning inspectorate, which evaluates the council's decision. It can grant the appeal, giving planning permission, or uphold the refusal.

  • Yes. Objectors can challenge an approval through judicial review, a type of legal action brought against the council.

  • A claimant brings a case against the council, arguing it made an irrational decision by failing to follow environmental or planning laws correctly, or by misinterpreting the law. The hope is that the judge will overturn the approval.

Questions about stopping UK factory farming applications

  • No - stopping factory farms here doesn’t simply push the problem overseas. The industry is expanding everywhere it can, all at once - in the UK, Asia, Africa, and beyond. Blocking a factory farm here doesn’t “cause” one to be built somewhere else. What it does do is show politicians and the public that communities are saying no, set legal precedents, and make it harder for the industry to expand unchecked.

  • Factory farming is cruel and destructive wherever it happens. UK “standards” still allow fast-growing chickens who collapse under their own weight, pigs and other animals confined in barren sheds, and animals denied even the most basic natural behaviours. Expanding here doesn’t reduce suffering - it just entrenches the system and signals to other countries that they should expand too.

  • Stopping factory farms here doesn’t shift cruelty overseas - it’s the first step in reducing it everywhere. The worry about imports is understandable, but campaigns are already working to raise import standards and close that loophole.

    The real solution is to tackle both production and consumption together - phasing out factory farms here, tightening import rules, and supporting farmers to move to fairer, more sustainable alternatives. By acting here, the UK can set the example that cruelty on this scale is no longer acceptable and take meaningful steps towards ending factory farming for good.

Taking action

  • No. Local voices carry the most weight, but factory farming affects us all - so councils usually accept objections from anyone in the UK.

  • Yes. Most councils will still look at objections submitted after the deadline, so it’s always worth sending one in. Every objection counts - it adds to the evidence of public opposition and shows decision-makers just how strongly communities reject these farms.

  • Share the application details and the CAFF website link on social media, in community groups, or by word of mouth. Every objection strengthens the campaign and shows decision-makers that people won’t accept factory farms.

  • Yes! Objections have already helped communities stop factory farm applications, and in many cases councils have been forced to delay or rethink plans because of the strength of local opposition. Every objection adds pressure - it shows decision-makers that people won’t accept these cruel and destructive farms. This is our chance to use our voices and win real change. Together, we can stop factory farms