Foston Pig Factory, Derbyshire

UK Company, Midland Pig Producers (MPP) is applying (application CW9/0311/174) to build an indoor pig factory farm on a green field site near the village of Foston, Derbyshire. If the plans are approved it would be one of the largest factory farms in the UK, containing 2,500 mother pigs (sows) and around 25,000 pigs, with 1,000 going for slaughter each week.   

If you don’t want to see massive US-scale pig factories entering the UK, then please sign this petition and better yet, object directly by registering your opposition to the plans on the Derbyshire County Council website.

Two local MPs, Heather Wheeler & Chris Williamson, district councillor Julie Patten, South Derbyshire District Council, Friends of the Earth and the Soil Association have already objected alongside over 30,000 others.

Because the pigs are confined in crowded and stressful conditions, and the piglets weaned before their immune systems have properly developed, they need antibiotics to keep them alive. The widespread use of antibiotics on farm animals has helped increase the number of antibiotic resistant diseases that pass from pigs to humans.

Despite the plans for an anaerobic digester which would process the waste and collect methane, there could still be air and water pollution from the waste slurry. Locals will also suffer from an increase in lorries transporting a thousand pigs a week out of the site and delivering animal feed and fuel for the anaerobic digester.

Many small farmers will be unable to compete with pork from such mega farms, as is outlined in the Soil Association and WSPA report.

Why not support real farming by taking a Pig Pledge today and join the growing number of people who are only buying meat from real farms, not animal factories (or going meat-free altogether). Through the power of our purses, it is possible to free pigs from the intensive conditions that impact the health of animals, people and the planet. Find out more: www.farmsnotfactories.org