Compassion in World Farming
Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) campaigns peacefully to end all factory farming practices – on land and in water. We believe that the biggest cause of cruelty on the planet deserves a focused, specialised approach – so we are relentlessly focused on ending factory farming.
“Our vision is a world where farmed animals are treated with compassion and respect.”
CIWF’s Mission
Compassion in World Farming (‘Compassion’) has been the leading global charity on farm animal welfare for over 50 years. We work to end factory farming (of land animals and aquatic creatures) – a practice rooted in a fundamental and unsustainable disconnect between humanity and nature that is harmful to animals, people and the planet.
Our food system is driving the climate and environmental emergencies facing our planet. Ocean health is intrinsically linked with the global food system: climate change, ocean warming, species extinction, overfishing, water pollution and the decline of ocean wildlife are all caused, in part, by industrial animal agriculture.
We know that factory farming has a huge impact on fish welfare (billions are estimated to be reared in underwater factory farms), and the health of our oceans (it is estimated that up to 850 billion wild fish are caught each year specifically to feed farmed carnivorous fish).
Compassion’s expert fish welfare team works exclusively on raising awareness, campaigning and lobbying to stop intensive aquaculture and raise awareness of its impact on fish welfare and ocean health.
CIWF’s Inspiration
Compassion was founded in 1967 by dairy farmers Peter and Anna Roberts, who were troubled about the direction that post-war farming was heading.
Their vision remains: that all animals are treated with compassion and respect, and our food and farming systems should work with nature, not against it.
In 2017 we established a fish team to address the growing concern of fish welfare in intensive aquaculture, and draw attention to the issues of fish sentience, overfishing, and to call for better policy action and public awareness of the issue.
CIWF wants to see all animals treated with compassion and respect, and a food and farming system that works with nature, not against it, for the benefit of animals, people and the planet.
CIWF’s Legacy
We want Compassion’s legacy to be a world where all farm animals are treated with compassion and respect, and a global food system which has embraced regenerative, nature-friendly farming practices that work with nature, not against it. This includes a reduction in global meat and fish consumption.
For Compassion’s fish team, we aim to end to intensive aquaculture, and shift to fishing practices which prioritise fish welfare and ocean health.
CIWF’s Current Projects
Through our advocacy and food business programmes, Compassion engages with policymakers, food industry giants and the public to improve farm animal welfare, reduce global meat consumption in line with environmental targets, end factory farming and transform our food system so that it works for animals, people and the planet.
Whilst Compassion works on all types of factory farming, we have a small specialist team focussing specifically on aquaculture. We know that factory farming has a huge impact on fish welfare (billions are estimated to be reared in underwater factory farms), and the health of our oceans (through overfishing and pollution from fish farming and animal agriculture). Large parts of the sector consist of farming carnivorous fish species that rely on human-edible, wild-caught fish for feed. In this form, aquaculture is driving the overexploitation of wild fish stocks. This is causing the decline of ocean wildlife populations.
Compassion’s expert fish welfare team is working on improving the recognition of fish sentience in the UK and Europe through campaigning for legislation for humane slaughter and influencing global food businesses to raise their fish welfare standards.
We are also campaigning to raise awareness of the issues around the farming of carnivorous species such as salmon, and to stop new types of farming such as octopus.
In 2021 Compassion released a new scientific report “Octopus factory farming: a recipe for disaster”, highlighting the plight of farmed octopus specifically. Since then, Compassion has worked both in the public eye and behind the scenes to shine a light on this new emerging cruelty before it becomes fully established.
