Farming: Battery-hen misery `unnecessary'

The misery and cruelty of factory farming could be ended if consumers were to spend just a few extra pence a week, a report said yesterday.

It was a myth that battery hens were vital to keep down the price of eggs, according to the report, unveiled by Compassion in World Farming (CIWF). The economics of factory farming showed that a free range egg cost just a little over 1p more to produce than a battery egg, said the campaign group. The same was true for pork and bacon, which was just as cheap to produce as meat from factory farmed pigs, it said. Moving away from factory farming to free range production would also create more jobs in the poultry industry, the report said. Pete Stevenson, CIWF political and legal director, said: "For a cost to each of us of less than 3p per week we could free millions of hens and pigs from a lifetime of misery."