Stop Foston Pig 'Prison'

In March 2010, Midland Pig Producers (MPP) submitted an application (9/2010/0311) to build a factory farm in Foston that would imprison up to 25,000 pigs at any one time. That application was withdrawn but has now been resubmitted to Derbyshire County Council under planning ref CW9/0311/174. Urge Derbyshire County Council to refuse planning permission for this 'prison', which would mean a lifetime of suffering for the pigs.

According to the plans, 2,500 breeding sows would be kept in a rearing unit, and the facility would produce 1,000 pigs a week to be transported to slaughter. Pigs, like all farmed animals, are sentient beings, not commodities to be produced. Pigs are complex, highly intelligent animals who are naturally at home foraging widely in woodlands. Forcing them to live in factory farm conditions causes them immense suffering.

Confining so many pigs to one location will guarantee even greater levels of disease, infection and injury than already exist on standard factory farms. Intensive farming also contributes to the spread of disease, including swine flu, to the human population.

Martin Baker, Managing Director of MPP, claims factory-farmed animals are better off than animals who live outdoors. Denying pigs the right to express natural behaviour, such as foraging for food in the soil and nurturing their young in a natural environment, makes pig farmers better off, not pigs.

Every step towards even greater intensification of pig farming in this country must be resisted. Please urge Derbyshire County Council to reject this application.

Subject

I was horrified to learn that Midland Pig Producers have resubmitted an application (CW9/0311/174) for an intensive factory farm that would house 25,000 pigs. Pigs on factory farms are forced to live in unnatural conditions, and mother pigs are treated purely as baby-making machines. Pigs are highly intelligent animals, and living in constant confinement often drives them insane. For many factory-farmed piglets, the first time they feel sun on their backs will be when they are loaded onto a truck for slaughter. Pigs are often slaughtered while they are still conscious in front of other terrified pigs.

Approving an application such as this would have a severely detrimental effect on the environment. It is now universally recognised that farmed animals around the world are among the main contributors to the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause climate change. Raising animals and growing their feed also contribute significantly to other major environmental problems, including habitat destruction, air and water pollution, soil degradation and loss of biodiversity.

On a local level, the intensive farm would increase traffic in the area, adding to congestion. The anaerobic digester, which is used to strip the slurry of methane and stop smells from escaping, can itself be responsible for producing smells and toxic gases. Furthermore, the sounds of 1,000 pigs being taken to slaughter each week are likely to be clearly audible to local residents. A further risk comes from the huge quantities of slurry and wastewater that would be produced, creating a potential threat to the water supply. If a leak were to occur, it would pose a substantial risk to human health. Such a facility would also lead to an increase in CO2 and other greenhouse-gas emissions as a result of farm machinery, transport, lighting, production of feed, slurry and the transport of animals.

Factory farming contributes to the spread of new diseases, as we have seen with swine flu. Hans-Gerhard Wagner, a senior officer with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, has called the intensive industrial farming of livestock an "opportunity for emerging diseases". Animals on factory farms often have impaired immune systems, and disease spreads on the farms as a result of intensive crowding in sheds, which are impossible to keep clean.

I strongly urge you to refuse planning permission for this development. It is now very clear that ending factory farming altogether will prevent massive animal suffering and is among the most significant steps we can take to protect our environment. Derbyshire must not take such a step in the wrong direction and be party to promoting this disturbing escalation in intensive agriculture.

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