Plot 3
Removed from sheep/cattle farming and a chicken unit was prevented from being built!
On the 18th February 2022, the VLM managed to collectively buy out another parcel of animal agriculture grazing land with our stealth campaign. This was a hard campaign because we had to keep all the details a secret. We did not intend to go for another plot so soon, but when this came on to our radar, we felt we had no choice, because there was something incredibly important to prevent, attached to this plot of land. It came with PLANNING PERMISSION for a CHICKEN UNIT!
We found out from the estate agents that there were two chicken farmers interested – one had already submitted an offer and the other wanted to extend the planning permission to house even more birds. The planning permission was for 2,500 chickens. This equates to approximately 20,000 chickens a year, based on a 6.5 week turn around. So, it was not a big unit, but as many of you know when these units are built, they often end up becoming larger over time.
Below are parts of the Planning Permission we can share (click to enlarge):
Chicken is the UK’s most popular animal flesh, ‘with 20 million birds slaughtered every week in the UK. The vast majority (86%) of industrial-sized farms are in the poultry sector, with 1,534 industrial-sized farms’.
Factory farms are responsible for the growing threat of bird flu, a disease which has a 50% mortality rate in humans when infected and has been spreading across the UK. Factory farming is a breeding ground for new pandemics, animal cruelty and environmental destruction.
The huge amounts of faecal waste produced by chicken farming, together with feathers, bedding and dead chickens, are difficult to manage in landfills or as compost. Storage of waste or overfertilization of land with chicken manure can cause runoff into rivers, lakes and ponds. Manure contains phosphorus and nitrogen, and runoff that carries these nutrients causes algae blooms in fresh water.
Algae blooms reduce sunlight penetration in water, cutting the oxygen supply to underwater plants, a condition known as eutrophication. This leads to the death of fish. Heavy metals and pathogenic microbes in chicken waste also harm and cause disease in land wildlife.
The VLM have not only blocked this chicken unit from being built, but also prevented the subsequent pollution that would have had a big impact on the local biodiversity, causing many adverse effects. This land is near a river that is already suffering the consequences of animal waste runoff and a unit like this would have been devastating for the already struggling wildlife in this area.
We would like to say a big thank you to all of those who donated towards saving this land as well as the lives of the 20,000 chickens who would have suffered there. Whether you donated £1, £10,000 or anything in between, you helped make this happen. This land, like the other two parcels of land bought by the VLM, will never be used to harm sentient life again and will also become a safe place for the critically endangered species who can now make it their home.
Mixed orchard planting
The future for the land now looks bright. We are in communication with some wonderful people local to the area, regarding creating a small veganic community mixed orchard on part of the land, that will be free for local volunteers to harvest fruit. We are sure you will agree that this is a much more compassionate, positive, and sustainable use of the land for growing food, than either dairy or poultry farming.
In March 2022, we completed the first phase of this mixed fruit orchard, planting 30 fruit trees. A mix of native apple, plum and cherry trees were planted. We are grateful to the Tree Council for their kind donation of these trees.
Species Count 2023
Plot 3 is very different from all of the other areas the VLM has removed from animal agriculture because it is on an elevated site with clay soil.
We discovered a few different species on this site and several different plants and animals. We even witnessed a weasel amongst a pile of logs who had made a home there. Seeing that a persecuted animal, called ‘vermin’ by farmers had moved onto VLM land was rather magical!
