Together, we are sparking a new era in food and farming
Compassion in World Farming was founded in 1967 by Peter Roberts, a dairy farmer who could see ﬁrst-hand how the demand for supposed cheap food was having a devastating effect on farm animals, the environment and humans. Since its beginnings, Compassion has been making a difference to the lives of billions of farm animals around the world.
Factory farming is by far the biggest cause of animal cruelty on Earth. And we are dedicated to ending it. This Strategic Plan sets out our vision for you, outlining the global problems caused by intensive farming, as well as posing the more humane, sustainable solutions. We also explain what we will do, with your help, to achieve the biggest impact, and the greatest change for the largest number of animals, in order to bring about a better future for people too.
- Factory farming causes immense animal suffering – and drives the world’s food resources, environment and wildlife into the ground
- With your vision, involvement and support, we want to change the game and spark a new era in agriculture and farm animal welfare
- By working together, we can pioneer abundant, sustainable food that is free from animal cruelty – now and for generations to come
- This is our five-year strategy to help make that big vision a reality, with your help
Why do we need Compassion in World Farming?
Cruelty to farm animals is wrecking the planet.
Farm animals are suffering
Over the last half century, the industrialisation of the countryside has led to farm animals disappearing from the land to be caged, crammed and confined in factory farms. This has had a devastating impact on animal welfare.
Our wildlife is disappearing
About two-thirds of wildlife loss is driven by food production, with industrial agriculture – factory farming – the most damaging.
Our environment is under serious threat
With nearly half the world’s usable land surface devoted to agriculture, the way we feed ourselves is now a dominant activity on the planet, affecting farm animal welfare as well as wildlife and the natural ecosystems on which human society depends.
Meanwhile, we are wasting our food
Factory farming is often justified on the basis of a looming food crisis. However, this overlooks the fact that we live in a world of abundance. According to United Nations statistics, enough food is already produced worldwide to feed nearly 16 billion people.
More than a third of the world’s cereals (and most of its soya) is fed to farm animals, wasting more than two-thirds of the calories and protein in conversion to meat, milk and eggs. This highlights the sheer inefficiency of feeding crops to farm animals that could be feeding people; or, more properly, from croplands that should be growing food directly for people.
The solution: A world better fed without factory farming
Our message is simple: by ending factory farming, we will bring better lives to billions of farm animals and people, save wildlife from extinction and leave a planet worth having as a legacy for our children.
Happier, healthier farm animals
If we get rid of cruel factory farms and restore farm animals to the land in mixed rotational farms, there are huge benefits to be had.
Free-ranging animals can express their natural behaviours – running, flapping, grazing – making for happier animals with better immunity, cutting down on the need for veterinary antibiotics and reducing the risk of disease. The simple fact is that rearing animals this way is better for them and healthier for us.
Breathe life into our landscapes
By returning to rotational farms and naturally-reared animals, we can bring a cascade of positive benefits for the environment too.
When free-range animals can wander fields and pasture, they help to regenerate soils. They re-engage the age-old nitrogen cycle where sunlight pushes up plants, eaten by animals whose droppings return nourishment to the soil.
Deliver abundant food
If we cut by half the amount of cereals and soya fed to farm animals, it would free up enough food for an extra 2 billion people. This would swell the world’s food basket to feed the 9 billion people anticipated by 2050 without the need for a hectare more of farmland.
There is a growing need to diversify the range of protein sources for people, reducing the overall amount of meat consumed. This would promote healthier diets, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help restore the natural environment, make it easier to feed a growing world population and provide greater scope for the very best animal welfare.
This is our strategy for creating a world better fed without factory farming
What we will do together
We will not rest until the biggest cause of animal cruelty – factory farming – is ended for the benefit of animals, people and the planet.
Our plan is built on three change goals:
Together we will
- Show that ending factory farming is key to humane and sustainable food.
- Push for a global agreement to end factory farming in favour of post-industrial agriculture.
- Convince intergovernmental agencies, such as the United Nations institutions, to support humane and sustainable farming policies.
- Encourage policies to reduce meat (including fish), milk and egg consumption in favour of protein diversification from plant-based alternatives.
- Strengthen legislation and enforcement on farm animal welfare with a particular focus on Europe and the UK.
- Persuade governments to adopt policies which incorporate the true cost of factory farming in the price of food.
- Persuade food companies to adopt higher-welfare products across their entire product ranges.
- Support producers who champion higher-welfare livestock practices.
- Enable consumers to make higher-welfare food choices through better information and honest labelling.
Our plan needs you
The evidence is irrefutable. Factory farming causes unimaginable suffering for billions of farm animals around the world. It wipes out wildlife and devastates our environment – all without providing the sustainable food our growing populations need. It is a cruel system and it is failing.
Our five-year strategy paves the way to a new era in food and farming: a post-industrial agriculture where life is vastly better for farm animals worldwide, where less meat is consumed and where people, wildlife and the planet thrive.
Together we are changing the lives of billions. Together, we can, and will, make factory farming history.