Today (16 March), we’ve joined forces with Sustain to release a new interactive ‘Ammonia Map’ which, for the first time, indicates the vast amounts of ammonia emissions from intensive chicken and pig farms in the UK. These emissions are fuelling a growing crisis that is impacting the welfare of the animals trapped in factory farms, our environment and our health.

Major threat to health

Ammonia, a nitrogen based gas, may be essential for food production, but the UK’s industrialised agricultural system is now releasing it at levels beyond what ecosystems can absorb. UK agriculture is responsible for a whopping 89% of national ammonia emissions and our report, The Ammonia Pollution Problem, reveals that as factory farming has intensified, so has the scale of the harm.

Once released into the air, ammonia reacts with other pollutants to form fine particulate matter (PM2.5) - one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution. These tiny particles penetrate deep inside our lungs and bloodstream, and have been linked to serious health issues, from heart disease and strokes to lung cancer and asthma, and long-term exposure is increasingly linked to type 2 diabetes and dementia.

An urgent public health priority

Our Patron and NHS doctor, Dr Amir Khan, said:

As a GP, I see firsthand the toll that air pollution takes on people’s health – and ammonia from intensive farming is a major, yet often overlooked, part of that problem. The fine particulate matter formed from ammonia exposure drives heart disease, stroke, asthma and chronic lung conditions, and it is our most vulnerable patients who pay the price.

Reducing these emissions is not just an environmental issue; it is an urgent public health priority.

Nature and farmed animals under assault

The environmental impacts are equally severe. Excess nitrogen from ammonia deposition acidifies soils, fuels algal blooms, and degrades ancient woodlands, grasslands, wetlands and freshwater habitats. Intensively farmed animals suffer too. Inside industrial livestock units, high ammonia concentrations irritate eyes and respiratory systems, increasing stress and susceptibility to disease.

A worsening health disaster

For many rural residents, the crisis is already taking its toll. In Whaplode Drove, Lincolnshire, Michele lives in the shadow of a large poultry operation and suffers as a direct result of the ammonia. She said:

When the chicken sheds are cleaned out, the smell and the polluted air hits me straight away – my chest tightens, my eyes sting, and I have to shut every window in my house just to cope. I’m asthmatic, and for days I can’t even step into my own garden. This isn’t just a countryside smell – it’s a serious health risk, and it’s getting worse.

Silently spreading threat to cities

Whilst communities living nearest to factory farms may face higher exposure to ammonia and PM2.5 pollution, it can reach far into towns and cities across the UK.

Nationally, agriculture contributes up to 39% of urban particulate pollution, underscoring the clear link between farming practices and public health.

A cascade of harm

Anthony Field, Head of our UK office, said:

The spread of industrial factory farming must stop. Factory farming sits at the heart of the UK’s ammonia crisis. By cramming large numbers of animals into confined spaces and relying heavily on fertilisers, these intensive systems release far more ammonia than the environment or our bodies can cope with. The result is a cascade of harm – to the animals living in these conditions, to the people breathing the polluted air, and to the ecosystems absorbing the excess nitrogen.

If we are serious about protecting public health and restoring the natural world, we must confront the role of industrial livestock production and rethink how we produce food.

Call on your MP to support action to end the expansion of factory farming and reduce ammonia pollution.

New UK ‘Ammonia Map’ exposes factory farming pollution