About Compassion in World Farming

Fighting for the welfare of every farmed animal

Compassion In World Farming campaigns peacefully to end factory farming and create sustainable food systems that benefit animals, people, and the planet. Why?

• Factory farming is the biggest cause of animal cruelty on the planet. From caged pigs and hens, to exhausted and overworked dairy cows, billions of farmed animals are treated like production units.
• Intensive meat production contributes to human health crises, including antimicrobial resistance, pandemics, obesity, cancer, and malnutrition.
• Factory farming drives climate change and puts immense pressure on ecosystems. Nearly half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture, threatening wildlife and the planet's future.

We believe that everyone has the right to healthy food that doesn’t involve cruelty, doesn’t cause suffering and doesn’t destroy our planet.

The Story Of Compassion

Compassion started with one dairy farmer

50 years ago, Compassion in World Farming was founded by Peter Roberts, a British farmer who became horrified by the development of modern, intensive factory farming.

For the first 40 years of his life, Peter led a conventional life. Having earned an agricultural diploma, he settled down happily to dairy farming.

However, Peter grew increasingly troubled by the direction of post-war farming. Appalled by the widespread use of cages and crates, he voiced his concerns to animal charities, but his calls for higher welfare were ignored.

In 1967, Peter Roberts and his wife Anna founded Compassion. Starting as just a back-room protest, Compassion grew into a powerful global movement, achieving enduring advancements in farmed animal welfare.

Now a fast-growing and influential worldwide movement, Compassion participates in key decision-making forums like the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. With supporters and partners around the globe, we are driving far-reaching changes in farming to improve the quality of life for billions of farmed animals.

You can discover more about the founding of Compassion and Peter's remarkable life in Roaming Wild by Emma Silverthorn.

We continue to act as guardians of Peter’s vision; that society should be judged by how it feeds its people, respects the environment, and treats animals.

Compassion in Action: Victories for Farmed Animals and Sustainable Food

• After a 50-year campaign, in 2024 a Bill was passed to ban live exports from Great Britain. This saves tens of thousands of British farm animals every year from long and exhausting journeys overseas.
• Relentless campaigning resulted in the EU recognising animals as sentient beings, capable of feeling pain and suffering. We have also achieved a ban on battery cages for hens in the egg industry, veal crates and sow, or mother pig, stalls across Europe.
• Award winning undercover investigations have exposed the reality of modern intensive farming systems to the public and worldwide media.
• Our Food Business team is working with some of the world’s biggest food retailers, producers and manufacturers to encourage a move to humane, sustainable and resilient food systems. Over 2.6 billion animals are set to benefit each year because of our Good Award winners’ policies.

A Better World Starts with Compassionate Farming

As you read this, billions of farmed animals worldwide are suffering in factory farms, deprived of everything that makes life worth living, and our broken food system continues to devastate the planet. Ending this needless suffering is our only hope to protect our future.

Everyone deserves healthy food that does not involve cruelty, suffering, or environmental destruction. By reducing our reliance on animals for food and adopting sustainable farming practices, we can create a world where animals, nature, people, and the planet thrive together.

Want to join the fight against factory farming?

• Sign up to receive email updates to learn about actions you can take to help end cruelty to farmed animals.
• Donate a regular contribution to help us campaign to stop the spread of factory farming.

Compassion in World Farming is a registered charity in England and Wales (registered charity number 1095050) and a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales (registered company number 4590804).