UK Factory Farm Companies Dodge Millions in Tax as Government Cuts Nature-Friendly Farming Support

According to SOMO, JBS avoided paying between £170 million and £340 million in corporate taxes between 2019 and 2022. Despite its track record, the company was recently given the green light to list on the New York Stock Exchange, opening up even more access to US capital markets.

British farmers left stranded while JBS profits soar

The revelations come at a time when the UK government has suspended funding for environmental payments that help farmers adopt more humane, sustainable practices such as keeping pigs and chickens in woodlands.

In March 2025, Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) applications were abruptly halted, leaving many farmers who had planned to improve animal welfare and protect nature in a state of uncertainty. Meanwhile, global meat producer JBS, whose factory farms confine millions of animals in horrific, cramped conditions, has been quietly avoiding millions in tax.

JBS’s deep roots in the UK

JBS operates across more than 700 UK chicken farms through Moy Park and generates around £300 million in retail sales through Fridge Raiders and Richmond alone.

Globally, JBS is the largest factory farming company, with the capacity to slaughter 5 billion chickens, 53 million pigs, 27 million cows, and 8 million lambs every year. The company’s record includes inhumane farming methods, illegal deforestation, and a 50% rise in its emissions in recent years.

A company built on exploitation

Alongside its tax avoidance, JBS has been repeatedly fined for a litany of abuses including exploiting child labour, bribery, price-fixing, and illegal deforestation. Over the past year, JBS breached environmental limits across several Moy Park farms and was fined £6 million for relying on migrant children to carry out dangerous work in its US slaughterhouses.

Government action is urgently needed

Lindsay Duncan, UK Farming Campaigns Manager, World Animal Protection, said:

Instead of contributing its fair and reasonable share of tax to the UK, JBS uses expensive lawyers and consultants to take advantage of tax loopholes, all while making profit from UK brands like Moy Park, Pilgrim’s, Richmond and Fridge Raiders. Meanwhile, UK farmers are struggling with the cutting of environmental payments as the government fails to find enough budget.

The UK government must get its priorities right. It must stop enabling profit-hungry meat companies like JBS to blatantly avoid tax and put more support toward British farming that is good for animals, the planet and farmers.