Hugh's Chicken Run
A keen advocate of the organic movement and high welfare for animals, last year Hugh investigated the ethics of intensive chicken farming in “Chicken Run”, a Channel 4 Big Food Fight programme. He reluctantly set up his own factory farm for meat chickens in order to investigate the whole production process and ended up disgusted by the appalling conditions under which 95% of British poultry is reared.
Such were his findings, he was compelled to convince people to change their shopping habits and created the “Chicken Out” campaign. Demanding higher welfare conditions for chickens farmed in the UK, the campaign reached a climax last June when Hugh appealed to Tesco's Board and shareholders at their AGM. With the help of Compassion in World Farming, he presented Resolution 17 in favour of the “Five Freedoms” for chickens sold by the supermarket giant.