Intensive livestock farming could raise the risk of new pandemics, researchers have warned.
According to the World Animal Protection-Kenya, factory farming, or intensive animal farming is the modern system in which large numbers of animals are raised, mostly indoors, in conditions intended to maximise production at minimal cost.
The World Health Organization defines zoonotic diseases as infectious conditions that are transmitted from animals to humans.
Industrialised farming is thought to reduce the risk of zoonotic diseases because of better control, biosecurity and separation of livestock.
In 2020, WAP called for an end to the industrial farming system, saying the approach was responsible for the suffering of billions of animals worldwide.
Researchers sought to examine the effect of social and economic factors, which are often overlooked in traditional assessments.
The study, led by the University of Exeter found that effects of intensifying agriculture are at best uncertain and at worst may contribute to emerging infectious disease (EID) risk.
The study titled, “Understanding the roles of economy and society in the relative risks of zoonosis emergence from livestock” was published in the Royal Society Open Science journal.
Professor Steve Hinchliffe, the lead author from the University of Exeter, said the Covid-19 pandemic reignited interest in EIDs, especially zoonotic viruses.
“The risks of emergence and transmission depend on multiple factors, including contact between humans and animals and how we use land,” he said.
“Livestock farming plays a potentially significant role in those risks, shaping landscapes and providing hosts that can act as the source or amplifiers of emerging pathogens.”
While such risks are assessed in terms of microbiological, ecological and veterinary sciences, there is a need to consider social, economic and political factors.
“Disease is always more than a matter of pathogen transmission, contact and contagion,” Hinchliffe said.
Once the three factors are taken into account, the pandemic risk posed by intensive farming is concerning.
“The founding myth in intensive farming is that we separate livestock from wildlife and thereby shut off the risk of diseases passing between them,” he said.
“But these farms exist in the real world so buildings and fences can get damaged, wildlife like rats or wild birds can get in, and workers move around. In short, there will always be accidents.”
Expansion of intensive farming and the resulting environmental degradation were cited as factors which can raise EID risks.
The paper also pointed out that intensification leads to a mixed landscape, with a variety of farming practices and types.
This creates the "worst of all possible worlds" in terms of EID risk.
Co-author Dr Kin Chan said increasing on-farm biosecurity, standardisation and efficiency in farm animal production is not the remedy for achieving a disease-free environment.
“Rather we need to reconsider the socio-cultural impacts of intensifying farm animal production on planetary health, environmental sustainability and animal welfare issues,” he added.
The research team included Tufts University, Royal Agricultural University, University of Wollongong, Clark University, Cambridge Conservation Initiative and the Institute of Development Studies.
The study was funded by the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health and the Wellcome Trust.