There are over 24,000 intensive poultry and pig farms in Europe, many of which have emerged in the last decade. An investigation maps them out and exposes their main issues.
An in-depth journalistic investigation, The face of european farming, conducted by the international collective of journalists AGtivist, sheds light on the growing spread of intensive farming across Europe, raising serious concerns about animal welfare, environmental impact, disease transmission and economic balance with respect to small producers. The investigation also denounces how European Union agricultural subsidies favour this type of production, as Giulia Innocenzi's documentary Food for profit had already highlighted.
The work, which culminated in the first European mapping of this type of production, identified over 24,000 intensive farms, with the highest concentrations in Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Italy. Between 2014 and 2023, more than 2,900 new industrial farms began operating and over 5,000 permits were granted.
The journalists used public and industry registers, satellite mapping and drone footage. An analysis of the data collected revealed a total of 24,087 industrial poultry and pig farms operating across Europe: 11,672 pig farming units and 12,415 poultry farms. Overall, Spain was found to host the largest number of industrial farms (3,963), followed by France (3,075), Germany (2,930), the Netherlands (2,667) and Italy (2,146).
In particular, the highest number of industrial poultry farms was recorded in France (with 2,342 licensed farms), followed by the United Kingdom (1,553), Germany (1,521), Italy (1,242) and Poland (1,207). Among the countries with the highest number of industrial pig farms are Spain (3,401), Denmark (1,532), the Netherlands (1,486), Germany (1,409) and Italy (904).
The data show that over the course of a decade, from 2014 to 2023, at least 2,949 new industrial-scale farms began operating. As the journalists report, these figures are likely to be underestimates, since several member states do not record or disclose such information.
Many of the farms identified were also considerably larger than the thresholds required for authorisation: some poultry farms were found to house more than 1.4 million chickens at one time; the largest pig farms identified held more than 30,000 animals.
According to the investigation's findings, several factors are contributing to the expansion of mega farms. First and foremost, economic pressure to produce low-cost animal protein has driven large-scale production to compete at an international level, particularly with markets such as China.
Furthermore, industrial lobbying has to some extent weakened environmental regulations and blocked reforms on animal welfare. Some critics also argue that the growth of intensive farming has been driven, at least in part, by the current agricultural subsidy system administered through the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which favours larger operations over smaller ones, forcing the latter to either scale up or shut down. It is estimated that between 2005 and 2020 the EU lost 5.3 million farms, most of them small-scale.
The investigation delves into the question of the environmental impact of intensive farming. According to the European Environment Bureau, the EU livestock sector as a whole — encompassing both intensive and conventional production — is one of the main sources of air, soil and water pollution, responsible for 12–17 per cent of the EU's total greenhouse gas emissions, and a key driver of biodiversity loss.
The United Kingdom is grappling with the pollution of iconic rivers such as the Wye, which flows along the border between England and Wales; Spain is contending with problems of drinking water contaminated by nitrates in certain areas as a result of intensive pig farming; France is facing growing methane pollution and a proliferation of algae caused by nitrate runoff.
In Italy, the investigation was conducted with the support of Essere Animali: an undercover operation carried out at a poultry farm housing 100,000 animals revealed poor hygiene conditions, chickens with physical abnormalities and health problems, and signs of forced growth induced by constant lighting designed to promote fattening. With regard to Italy, the bill Oltre gli allevamenti intensivi is cited as a proposal for the reform and transition of the sector.