Building a Better Food Business Future

Advocating for better food and farm animal welfare: The story of Compassion in World Farming

Founded by Hampshire dairy farmer Peter Roberts in 1967, Compassion in World Farming is the leading international animal welfare environmental organisation focused on farmed animals worldwide.

We have been instrumental in landmark legislative changes against veal crates, barren battery cages for laying hens, and gestation stalls for sows, as well as the recognition of animals as sentient being in European law.

Keeping to Peter’s strong belief that protection of animal welfare and the ending of factory farming was intrinsically linked, not only to our own health, but the health of our planet, Compassion embarked on a journey outlining change with short- and long-term goals, from ‘Beyond factory Farming’ to ‘A Flourishing Food System’.

Our Global CEO, Philip Lymbery, has also produced three books on the subject:

1. The Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat documents an investigative journey behind the closed doors of the factory farming industry
2. Dead Zone: Where the Wild Things Were examines the devastating impact of factory farming on some of the world’s most iconic wildlife species
3. Sixty Harvests Left takes its title from a chilling warning made by the United Nations that the world’s soils could be gone within a lifetime. 

From Extinction to Regeneration: Food System Solutions

In 2017, Compassion partnered with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for our major international conference ‘Extinction & Livestock: Moving to a flourishing food system for wildlife, farm animals and us’. The conference explored the interconnections between intensive animal farming, the wider sustainability issues and its impact on people – on their health, on food security and their livelihoods.

Attended by leading policy makers, academics and representatives from food businesses, the conference concluded that replacing intensive animal farming with a regenerative food system was not just a ‘nice to have’ or a choice to make for animal welfare alone, but essential for the sustainability of life on earth.

In 2023, at our follow-up international Extinction or Regeneration Conference, Compassion partnered with IPES-Food and other partners, to discuss better ways of producing our food to ensure we head towards regeneration rather than extinction.

Food System Crisis: Factory Farming’s Impact and Urgent need for change

The world is reaching a tipping point where planetary emergencies around climate, the collapse of nature and rising health risks are threatening life on our planet. The way we treat farmed animals has a big bearing on this. Factory farming is the single biggest cause of animal suffering on the planet - its sheer scale with 98 billion animals being produced worldwide, and rising every year, is having a devastating impact. If we are to mitigate the threat to people, planet and animals currently represented by our current food systems we need urgent action NOW at a global level.

Despite the compelling evidence from multiple sectors, there has been limited action to begin to deliver a healthy and sustainable food system. Our new strategy aims to change this. We want to build the future of food: advancing animal welfare, environmental health, and sustainable practices with global industry leaders.

Changing the food system: How Compassion influences major food companies

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world, indeed it's the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead, author

Our strategy focuses on influencing key stakeholders (governments, corporates, financial institutions) who can shape, make or fund policy direction on food, farming and animals through direct engagement, research, communications and building a movement for change.

For over a decade Compassion’s Food Business team has been pivotal in driving change, raising standards for farm animal welfare and promoting sustainable food practices throughout the supply chains of leading food companies around the world.

We engage with more than half of the world’s top 250 food companies across Europe, the US, Asia and more globally through our partner supply chains. We embrace collaboration and adopt a solutions-driven mindset, fostering relationships grounded in trust, mutual benefit, and reward for progress.

Our focus revolves around positive engagement, where we play the role of a constructive ally, motivating companies to evolve, using key tools such as our Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards, Supermarket Survey, Global EggTrack, ChickenTrack and the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare, complemented by our technical resources and communication support.

Our tools for change

To date over 3.1 billion animals are set to lead better lives each year from our corporate partners commitments.

Urgent action needed: Compassion’s plan for sustainable food by 2040

As the world faces a doubling in global meat consumption by 2050, in tandem with increasing food insecurity, growing pollution, grain and water shortages, scarcity of land, alongside increasing health risks posed by intensively farmed meat and dairy consumption, Compassion’s call for the world to reduce its reliance on animal products and to rear livestock in a humane and sustainable way is more relevant than ever.

Creating a Compassionate Future is our most urgent strategy yet detailing the milestones towards achieving a better food system and ending factory farming by 2040. It reflects the growing need for action in the face of the escalating climate, health and nature crises.

Compassion’s new strategy is broken down into three overarching goals which build on the significant successes we have achieved in recent years:

• to achieve a global shift from factory farming to regenerative farming that works with nature and animals;
• to reduce human reliance on animal products, which includes eating less meat, fish, and dairy; and
• to integrate robust animal welfare practices into sustainable climate and nature-friendly food systems.

To achieve these goals, we will focus on the four main stakeholders that hold the key to achieving them – governments, corporates, the United Nations and the finance sector.

Our engagement with forward-thinking food businesses will help achieve these goals by driving change to higher animal welfare and planet-friendly practices in food production.