
ARAGÓN / HEREFORDSHIRE / LOWER SAXONY — These regions have become areas with a very high density of intensive farms. An international investigation reveals the dynamics behind the expansion and the pollution of rivers, aquifers and even tap water that it brought along.
Pork production for export has been one Spain and Germany’s big economic successes in this first quarter of the century. Chicken is a keystone seller for Tesco, the British supermarket giant. Cheap meat allows for large profits, but its low-cost production model, based on reducing costs specially on transport, has implied unprecedented farm concentration. The areas where these farms have been established are no longer able to cope with the water damage caused by animal excrements. An international investigation led by DATADISTA and The Guardian, disseminated in collaboration with elDiario.es and counting on the financing by Journalismfund.eu, locates areas with very high concentration of intensive livestock farming, digs into how these territories were grabbed by the meat business, big supermarkets, and world's pork megaproducers and unveils the degree to which water resources have been already damaged.
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
- Premio Gabo 2023: Ana Tudela and Antonio Delgado were nominated for in the category "Coverage", for showing how the areas of extremely high concentration of intensive macro-farms in Europe have polluted rivers, aquifers and even drinking water.
- This investigation won the 2023 Climate Journalism Award in the Data Category.
- Special Mention in the III Vicente Verdú Awards for Journalism and Innovation.
- API (Asociación de Periodistas de Investigación) Award 2023 for Best Journalism Investigative Work in Spain in the Data category.
Here Ana Tudela is talking about this project in one of Journalismfund's webinars:
ONLINE
- How a Tesco chicken deal may have helped pollute one of the UK’s favourite rivers - The Guardian (United Kingdom), 14/07/2022
- El oscuro rastro en el agua del negocio de la carne barata - DATADISTA (Spain), 24/07/2022
- The dark trace in the water of the cheap meat big business - DATADISTA (Spain), 24/07/2022
- El oscuro rastro en el agua del negocio de la carne barata - elDiario.es (Spain), 24/07/2022
-
Like a giant sewage plant’: how Germany’s ‘pig belt’ got too big - The Guardian (Germany), 26/07/2022
COUNTRIES
- Germany
- Spain
- The UK
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