I hear that ‘Intensive livestock farming in itself involves cruel farming practices: cages, filthy and overcrowded sheds, painful mutilation, deprivation and constraints imposed on animals. But it also has a harmful and dangerous impact on human health and the planet.”

Statements such as these are very common in animal rights petitions and on the many sites that aim to eliminate poultry farms. This information is not true. It is simply because serious farmers always act in defence of the health and welfare of the animals they rear and consequently also of the end customer and the planet. Today, the fast-growing conventional chicken industry has managed to reduce its impact by 50% in order to produce the same numbers as in 1965, consuming 75% fewer resources, reducing its impact on greenhouse gas emissions by 36%, the agricultural land used by 72% and the water used by 58% (working on reducing waste). All ‘achievements’ in sustainability made possible by breeding conventional fast-growing breeds. This is not the case with slow-growing chickens, which account for 5 to 10% of the European market and entail much higher costs and consumption.