As a former investigative TV journalist for 25 years, I am used to picking up good stories by listening to the people on the frontlines of a situation.

And through my work as an Agricultural Campaigner for Greenpeace Denmark, a group of people I have been speaking to a lot recently are those who live close to large pig factories. These people are the subject of a new documentary film we have produced to raise awareness of the issues associated with living so close to an industrial meat facility.

Annette Palshoej, aged 75, is looking out of her window towards one of the three factory farms nearby. For 30 years she has been living right in the middle between the three pig farms Edelgundegaard, Vandvaerksgaarden and Bolettesminde, in the small town Tingerup 60 kilometer west of Copenhagen. Her life is severely affected by the awful smell from the farms, Annette reported to Greenpeace Nordic in Denmark. She cannot have guests outside, and drying laundry outside is out of the question, because it would stink of manure. Annette said: “It is the worst when the manure is spread or when the pens are being ventilated. Our windows need to stay closed most of the time, as we don’t know when the wind will blow, towards us and carry the bad smell with it. I get a heavy headache, when they spread manure. I cannot open our bedroom window, because it is right opposite the pens. Everything stinks and is green from algae. We cannot even sell the house.”

They described to me how the unrelenting stench seeping out of industrial pig factories has ruined their lives. They feel ashamed when they have guests in the garden and it smells like sh*t. They cannot hang their laundry outside because it will smell like sewage. Their houses and fences have turned green due to the algae that flourish thanks to the ammonia flowing out from the pig stables. During my conversations with the people forced to live in these conditions, it is not uncommon for people to start crying when telling me their stories, and I was really stunned to experience just how affected they are by living close to these industrial pig farms. 

But what struck me the most were their stories about the health problems they have experienced as a result of the constant stench. They described the headaches, the stomach aches, the diarrhea, and the breathing difficulties.

Former hospital chief physician and chief surgeon Ellen Appelquist has lived in her house for 44 years. It is located only 100 meters away from the industrial pig farm Vandvaerksgaarden in the small village of Tingerup. The presence of the farm has a big impact on her life, she reported to Greenpeace Nordic in Denmark. She often gets headaches, which she has to treat with medication. She also has to leave her home when the smell is really bad. Ellen said: “When the wind blows from East and South, it stinks so much, that I cannot breathe outside. I get diarrhoea and have to go inside or leave my property. The vents in my new windows are always shut to keep the smell out. The noise from trucks and tractors is a permanent nuisance. My quality of life has significantly deteriorated”.

The most common stories we hear about industrial meat production are ones that cover pollution, climate change impacts, loss of biodiversity, and poor animal welfare. But here was something new: the pig factories’ close neighbours claims that they are getting sick from the more than 200 chemical substances emitted from the stables. Among them are ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulphide, mercaptans, and dust particles – all related to different kinds of respiratory and lung diseases.

Over time, I managed to speak to more and more pig factory neighbours all over Denmark, and everybody more or less had the same story to tell: “When the stench is really bad, we feel sick”.

Dead pigs dumped outside a Danish factory farm © Greenpeace / Wildlight
Dead pigs dumped outside a Danish factory farm
© Greenpeace / Wildlight / Selene Magnolia

I decided to dig through the scientific literature to search for evidence and soon found a large number of international peer reviewed studies, which all concluded that there is a documented link between living near pig factories and an elevated risk of suffering from respiratory illnesses like asthma, as well as skin diseases, diarrhea, and headaches.

Many of these neighbours to pig factories bought their homes decades ago – long before industrial meat production took over much of the countryside. At that time, there were many more small family-run farms, which kept small numbers of livestock. Today, thanks to the industrialisation of meat production, the residents find themselves living near enormous meat factories containing thousands and thousands of animals. Their homes are now impossible to sell, and their life quality has plummeted.

Bente Joergensen is a former high school teacher, who lives in an old rural house only 100 meters away from the Vandvaerksgaarden factory farm in the village Tingerup. Her husband Soeren is a chemical engineer, and they are afraid of being exposed to possible toxic substances, through manure and air. When the smell is strong, Bente wears a face mask outside. Bente said: “The smell is so awful, that it makes me feel sick, my head aches and my eyes are red and swollen.”

All over the world, ordinary people are suffering from the consequences of industrial meat production. This is not least the case in the small country of Denmark, which is home to over 3,000 pig factories and has the highest number of pigs per capita in the world.

For too long, national governments have ignored the local people. Now is the time to hear the neighbours’ stories. Please watch and share this film. The trailer is below, or you can watch the full film here.

Kristian Sloth is an Agricultural Campaigner at Greenpeace Denmark.