“This is factory farming – and this is what they don’t want you to see.”

Rolling uncomfortably on the top bunk of a sleeper carriage, the hours slipped slowly by. Sleep didn’t come easy, what with jetlag and the sheer novelty of a crowded train in another land. We’d taken the night train from Beijing to Nanyang; a 12-hour journey.

Come the morning, I watched from the window; mile after mile of maize-corn fields. They stretched endlessly along the length of the railway track, apparently destined for animal feed and biofuel. I was struck by just how much land seemed to be devoted to feeding factory farms and cars rather than people.

We drove through the busy streets of Nanyang. A scooter pulled up alongside with a small Pekinese dog by the rider’s feet. A second scooter whizzed by, this time with chickens dangling by their legs like a feathery saddle-bag. A big black dog lies caged and motionless outside a restaurant while the world bustled by.

Finally, we left the city traffic for the open road. The grey misty haze so familiar of Beijing had followed us; so too had the miles and miles of maize fields; broken visually by little more than a couple of storks’ nests that sat like untidy pyres on telegraph poles.

We arrived at our destination; a small village beside a mega-pig farm. I was eager to hear what life was like so close to so many factory farmed pigs. Inquisitive villagers swarmed; this is what we found… click here.

To get your copy of ‘Farmageddon: The true cost of cheap meat’, click here.

Farmageddon – My neighbour stinks