Foston Pig Farm Decision Due Today
Sue Ine Flew | 30.06.2010 10:43 | Animal Liberation
"The erection of a 2,500 breeding sow pig rearing unit with grain store, feed mill, feed hoppers, mess block, water treatment buildings together with storage buildings feeding an associated anaerobic digestion facility, service building, digestate and methane gas storage tanks supplying an electricity generation facility" - Midlands Pig Producers planning application.
Today the decision is due to be made regarding the proposed Midlands Pig Producers pig farm proposal in Foston, South Derbyshire.
This will be the largest pig farm in history in this country, on the scale of American establishments. The number of pigs housed there at any one time could reach 26,000 and 1,000 a week are due to be slaughtered. The crates provide only just room for them to turn around and the animals will never go outside, but animal welfare is apparently not considered by councils while making planning decisions.
An anaerobic digester is not environmentally friendly as claimed - they do not remove toxins from the slurry itself which still has to be disposed of, merely burn the fuel in the gases that evaporate from the biomass. During this process, more toxins are created such as hydrogen sulphide. Then there's the methane emissions from the animals themselves, which there is no proposed solution for. The water and electricity used by the farm and the digester could be extortionate, especially as extremely efficient ventilation is essential for worker safety, and the small amount of power provided from the 'renewable' source of methane digestion doesn't come close to balancing these demands.
More info on these and other issues surrounding the farm proposal on VIVA:
http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/pigs/foston.htm
This will be the largest pig farm in history in this country, on the scale of American establishments. The number of pigs housed there at any one time could reach 26,000 and 1,000 a week are due to be slaughtered. The crates provide only just room for them to turn around and the animals will never go outside, but animal welfare is apparently not considered by councils while making planning decisions.
An anaerobic digester is not environmentally friendly as claimed - they do not remove toxins from the slurry itself which still has to be disposed of, merely burn the fuel in the gases that evaporate from the biomass. During this process, more toxins are created such as hydrogen sulphide. Then there's the methane emissions from the animals themselves, which there is no proposed solution for. The water and electricity used by the farm and the digester could be extortionate, especially as extremely efficient ventilation is essential for worker safety, and the small amount of power provided from the 'renewable' source of methane digestion doesn't come close to balancing these demands.
More info on these and other issues surrounding the farm proposal on VIVA:
http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/pigs/foston.htm
Sue Ine Flew
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