What is Raw?

Factory farming is everywhere - around 2 in every 3 farm animals are factory farmed. But it doesn't work - it's dangerous, unfair and dirty.

Raw is a campaign to kickstart a food and farming revolution. We are exposing the raw truths of factory farming and building a movement for better food and farming. Sign up to Raw and help expose the true cost of factory farming. Together, let's kickstart a food and farming revolution.

compassion logo Raw is brought to you by Compassion in World Farming. The organisation was founded over 40 years ago by a British farmer who became horrified by the development of modern, intensive factory farming. Find out more about Compassion.

All about Raw

The impacts of factory farming

We rear and slaughter an estimated sixty five billion farm animals worldwide every year. Nearly 2 in every 3 of them spend their lives in factory farms - farming systems that prioritise maximum production above all else.

This modern phenomenon creates vast quantities of seemingly cheap meat, milk and eggs. But it comes as a cost. Animals are treated as commodities and are often raised in intense confinement. Factory farming is highly dependent on large quantities of limited resources such as grain-based feed, water, energy and medication. In short:

Factory farming is dangerous, threatening our health and wellbeing, and the welfare of farm animals
Factory farming is unfair, threatening rural livelihoods and exacerbating poverty
Factory farming is dirty, threatening the planet and its precious natural resources

Scroll down to find out more...

Animal cruelty

Factory farming mistreats animals, cramming them together and abusing them in an effort to boost productivity.

Egg-laying hens and rabbits reared for meat often spend their whole lives crammed into cages with less space than an A4 sheet of paper per animal.

Climate change

Factory farming intensifies climate change, releasing vast volumes of greenhouse gases.

Livestock farming accounts for around 18% of our global greenhouse gas emissions - more than the global transport sector.

Resource waste

Factory farming wastes resources, requiring vast inputs but giving relatively little food energy in return.

It takes over 15,000 liters of water to produce an average kilo of beef.

Biodiversity loss

Factory farming endangers the natural world, threatening the survival of many animals and plants.

Agricultural expansion in the Amazon for grazing and crops could see 40% of this fragile, pristine rainforest destroyed by 2050.

Pollution

Factory farming pollutes environments, contaminating the natural world with a range of potentially lethal toxins.

Some large farms can produce more raw waste than the human population of a large US city.

Food inequality

Factory farming breaks our food systems, taking grain and other precious resources from those that need it most.

1.5 billion people around the world are either overweight or obese while 1 billion are underfed.

Health threats

Factory farming threatens our health, producing less healthy food and encouraging infectious pathogen growth.

Heavy red meat consumption can increase the risk of some cancers developing by as much as 43%

Damaged livelihoods

Factory farming damages livelihoods, threatening local residents, economies and farm workers.

In Europe it has been estimated that one farmer quits agriculture almost every minute.

What Next?

RAW is working to expose the true cost of factory farming. There are many impacts that we already know about. But what other impacts may lie in store?

What is Raw?

18234 Supporters

In 112 Countries

Our Latest CampaignAct now