A version of this article also appeared on investigative site The DetailNorthern Ireland’s largest source of drinking water is besieged by toxic pollution linked to a government drive to accelerate pig and poultry farming, new research shows.
‘Mapped: The scale of pig and poultry farming in Northern Ireland’ tracks the rise in intensive farming and correlating decline in water quality over the 13 years since the launch of a national plan to accelerate the growth of farming, fishing, food and drink production.
The small nation of 1.9 million has the highest density of pigs and poultry in the UK, with more chickens and pigs than Scotland and Wales combined, the research shows.
Published today (9 July) by Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland and multimedia research agency Materiality, the report finds that the harmful nutrients from the excess manure created by intensive farming directly impact the soils and water in Northern Ireland – while the vast majority of the profitable animal products are exported elsewhere.
Over 63 percent of poultry, eggs and pork by revenue are sold in England, Scotland and Wales, the data shows. According to the report, Northern Ireland – which makes up just six percent of the UK’s land mass and three percent of its population – consumes only a small proportion of its produce but has been left to deal with the resulting manure, with devastating environmental consequences.
