Saturday, 5 April 2025

Megafarm/Environmental Harm?

 


Plans for a Norfolk megafarm have been rejected by local councillors, citing environmental concerns. It was intended to establish one of the largest industrial poultry and pig units at Cranswick. The unit would have had 900,000 chickens and pigs (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/03/plan-for-norfolk-megafarm-rejected-by-councillors-over-environmental-concerns). That’s an awful lot of animal shit. Not only would the smell be overpowering, there would be a real danger of eutrophication in any surrounding waterbodies. Faeces are nitrogen rich and, when washed into rivers, streams and even the sea, stimulate rampant algal blooms. This rapidly removes oxygen from the water, producing dead zones. This seems one case where profits and ‘additional jobs’ haven’t overridden environmental concerns!


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