Attitudes to factory farming practices in the UK & US

Why this matters

Public opposition to factory farming is both stronger and more cross-partisan than advocates might expect. Yet the issue barely registers as a public priority: just 1% of respondents named it among the top three issues facing the country. This gap between latent values and active concern represents a strategic opportunity - the barrier is not public indifference but a lack of knowledge and salience.

What we found

People dramatically underestimate the scale of poor welfare practices. Respondents thought 71% of UK chicken comes from factory farms; the reality is 95%. They estimated 53.6% of pigs are killed using CO₂ gas stunning; the actual figure is 88%. On calf separation, the public underestimated prevalence by over 35 percentage points. When presented with accurate information about 12 common practices - from hock burn ulcers on chickens to piglet thumping to faecal contamination - between 75% and 94% of UK respondents rated every single one as unacceptable. Trust in the industry is correspondingly low: only 5% think it takes very good care of animal welfare, and two-thirds consider its communications about welfare untrustworthy. Yet the industry remains largely anonymous - the best-known factory farming company in the UK, Bernard Matthews, was named by only 8% of respondents.

What it means for advocates and funders

Three strategic directions emerge. First, closing the knowledge gap: campaigns that educate the public about the everyday realities of factory farming - done carefully to avoid overwhelming audiences - have real potential to shift support for reform. Second, increasing urgency by connecting factory farming to issues people already prioritise, such as health, cost of living, and food security. Third, bringing the big agricultural corporations into public view: the industry’s combination of low trust and near-total anonymity means it is largely unscrutinised, and naming corporate actors could open up the kind of targeted campaigning that has proved effective against fossil fuel companies. The research also identifies the demographic groups with highest mobilisation potential: health-conscious, well-educated respondents and, in the US, progressive young people.