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Factory farming, also known as industrial agriculture, refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops. The methods deployed are geared toward making use of economies of scale to produce the highest output at the lowest cost. The practice is widespread in developed nations, and most of the meat, dairy, eggs, and crops available in supermarkets are produced in this manner.

Origins of the term "factory farming"

The origin of the term factory farm is not clear, although the Oxford English Dictionary attributes the first recorded use to an American journal of economics in 1890, while it didn't enter pejorative use until the 1960s. A 1998 documentary film, A Cow at My Table, showed the term being used within the agricultural industry as descriptive of "factory-like" farming operations. In recent decades, the term has been widely used by environmental and animal rights groups, and thus has a negative connotation, at least in public forums. Factory farm(ing) is usually included in modern dictionaries as simply referring to "large-scale agriculture", although a more explicit definition is emerging, as in Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English: "a system of large-scale industrialized and intensive agriculture that is focused on profit with animals kept indoors and restricted in mobility." The term is at times used in opposition to the term family farm.

History

The practice of industrial agriculture is a relatively recent development in the history of agriculture, and the result of scientific discoveries and technological advances. Innovations in agriculture beginning in the late 1800s generally parallel developments in mass production in other industries that characterized the latter part of the Industrial Revolution. The identification of nitrogen and phosphorus as critical factors in plant growth led to the manufacture of synthetic fertilizers, making possible more intensive types of agriculture. The discovery of vitamins and their role in animal nutrition, in the first two decades of the 20th century, led to vitamin supplements, which in the 1920s allowed certain livestock to be raised indoors, reducing their exposure to adverse natural elements. The discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s facilitated raising livestock in larger numbers by reducing disease. Chemicals developed for use in World War II gave rise to synthetic pesticides. Developments in shipping networks and technology have made long-distance distribution of agricultural produce feasible.

Role in food production

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, ninety-eight percent of all farms in the United States are "family farms". Two percent of farms are not family farms, and those two percent make up fourteen percent of total agricultural output in the United States, although half of them have total sales of less than $50,000 per year. Overall, ninety-one percent of farms in the United States are considered small family farms and account for twenty-seven percent of production, while seven percent are classified as large family farms and account for fifty-nine percent of production. Together, non-family and large family farms account for nine percent of all farms and seventy-three percent of production. The most recent trend in agricultural production in indicates a sharp production shift to non-family and "very large" family-owned farms, with their combined share rising from thirty-eight percent in 1989 to fifty-eight percent in 2003. The USDA predicts this trend will continue, given the average negative operating profit margin and growing share of operators over 65 in the small family farm sector.

Four companies produce 81 percent of cows, 73 percent of sheep, 60 percent of pigs, and 50 percent of chickens brought to market in the U.S. According to the National Pork Producers Council, 80 million of the 95 million pigs slaughtered each year are intensively reared through industrial agriculture.

Animals

Arguments in favor

Proponents say that large-scale intensive farming is a useful and proven agricultural advance.

• Low cost — Intensive agriculture tends to produce food that can be sold at lower cost to consumers.
• Efficient — Animals in confinement can be supervised more closely than free-ranging animals, and diseased animals can be treated faster. Further, more efficient production of meat, milk, or eggs results in a need for fewer animals to be raised, thereby limiting the impact of agriculture on the environment.
• Economic contribution — The high input costs of agricultural operations result in a large influx and distribution of capital to a rural area from distant buyers rather than simply recirculating existing capital. A single dairy cow contributes over $1300 US to a local rural economy each year, each beef cow over $800, meat turkey $14, and so on. As Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff states, “Research estimates that the annual economic impact per cow is $13,737. In addition, each $1 million increase in PA milk sales creates 23 new jobs. This tells us that dairy farms are good for Pennsylvania's economy.”
• Industry is responsible and self-regulating — Organizations representing factory farm operators claim to be proactive and self-policing when it comes to improving practices according to the latest food safety and environmental findings.
• Food safety — Reducing number and diversity of agricultural production facilities results in easier management. Smaller facility numbers permit easier government oversight and regulation of food quality. Processing foodstuffs through centralized mediums leads to standardization, which protects general food safety, removing unsafe rogue elements.
• Animal health — Larger farms have greater resources and abilities to maintain a high level of animal health. Larger farms can make use of expert veterinarians, while smaller non-industrial farms are limited to farmer's ability to care for his livestock. Under certain definitions of industrial agriculture, industrial agriculture also permits the use of antibiotics to prevent and treat diseases, while non-industrial agriculture, to minimize cost and meet certain other goals, often will not prevent or treat bacterial diseases but will instead hope illness clears up without intervention.
• Pollution control — Large farms can maintain and operate sophisticated systems to control waste products. Smaller farms are unable to maintain the same standards of pollution control. By consolidating waste products, farmers can efficiently manage waste.

Proponents also dispute the foodborne illness argument. They note the fact that E. coli grows naturally in most mammals, including humans, and that only a few strains of E. coli are potentially hazardous to humans. They also note that diseases naturally occur among chickens and other animals. Properly cooking food can effectively remove risk factors by killing bacteria. Proponents argue that there is widespread demand for a cheap, reliable source of meat.

Arguments against

Opponents say that what they refer to as factory farming is "cruel", and it poses health risks, and causes environmental damage.

In 2003, a Worldwatch Institute publication stated that "factory farming methods are creating a web of food safety, animal welfare, and environmental problems around the world, as large agribusinesses attempt to escape tighter environmental restrictions in the European Union and the U.S. by moving their animal production operations to less developed countries."

Arguments include:

• Disease — Overpopulation may lead to disease. In natural environments, animals are seldom crowded into as high a population density. Disease spreads rapidly in densely populated areas. Animals raised on antibiotics are breeding antibiotic resistant strains of various bacteria ("superbugs").

• Air and water pollution — Large quantities and concentrations of waste are produced. Lakes, rivers, and groundwater are at risk when animal waste is improperly recycled. Pollutant gases are also emitted. Dust, fly, and odor problems can be created for people living in the immediate region.
• Cruel — Crowding, drugging, and performing surgery on animals. Chicks are debeaked hours after hatching, commonly by slicing off the beak. Confining hens and pigs in barren environments leads to physical problems such as osteoporosis and joint pain, and also boredom and frustration, as shown by repetitive or self-destructive behaviour known as stereotypes.
• Resource overuse — Concentrated populations of animals require a commensurately large amount of water and are depleting water resources in some areas.
• Destruction of Biodiversity — Industrial farming wipes out large areas of land to house a single variation of one species, usually foreign to the region, thus eliminating the entire local ecosystem.
• Tracking — With the intensive farming system it is difficult to track the source of food, let alone food borne disease, back to particular animals. Sometimes food purchased on one side of the country may have been produced on the other side. Hamburger meat may contain the meat of as many as 1000 cows. This causes concern among consumers concerning the origin of foods and among government officials concerning the origin of disease. The National Animal Identification System is one proposed way the USDA is attempting to remedy this problem. With "traditional" farming techniques this problem is eliminated because the consumer can buy directly from the producer. This can lead to other problems, however, as food purchased directly from farmers does not have to be processed according to industrial standards and undergoes no official quality evaluation.

Crops

Features

• large scale — hundreds or thousands of acres of a single crop (much more than can be absorbed into the local or regional market);
• monoculture — large areas of a single crop, often raised from year to year on the same land, or with little crop rotation;
• agrichemicals — reliance on imported, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to provide nutrients and to mitigate pests and diseases, these applied on a regular schedule; the use of fertilizer recycled from toxic waste and other hazardous industrial byproducts is common in the US.
• hybrid seed — use of specialized hybrids designed to favor large scale distribution (e.g. ability to ripen off the vine, to withstand shipping and handling);
• genetically engineered crops — use of genetically modified varieties (GMOs) designed for large scale production (e.g. ability to withstand selected herbicides);
• large scale irrigation — heavy water use, and in some cases, growing of crops in otherwise unsuitable regions by extreme use of water (e.g. rice paddies on arid land).
• high mechanization

Criticism

Critics of intensively farmed crops cite a wide range of concerns. On the food quality front, it is held by critics that quality is reduced when crops are bred and grown primarily for cosmetic and shipping characteristics. Environmentally, factory farming of crops is claimed to be responsible for loss of biodiversity, degradation of soil quality, soil erosion, food toxicity (pesticide residues) and pollution (through agrichemical build-ups and runoff, and use of fossil fuels for agrichemical manufacture and for farm machinery and long-distance distribution).

Alternatives

The definition of industrial agriculture is somewhat variable, and therefore the proposed alternatives to industrial agriculture are not sharply defined. In general, critics of industrial agriculture advocate decentralized approaches to food production, such as guerilla gardening, smaller farms serving local farmer's markets or community supported agriculture, and the reduction or elimination of synthetic agents in agriculture.

A number of countries, including the United States, have legislated organic production standards, which preclude some of the practices that characterize industrialized agriculture. The United States Department of Agriculture has made detailed regulations which cover many aspects of agricultural production, processing, storage and transportation. However, terminology used by the USDA in regards to many of its regulations, including those concerning animal welfare, is vague and may be construed in the farm's favor. Very large-scale agriculture which may be viewed as "industrialized" is still possible under organic regulations.

Some have proposed genetically modified foods as a way to address certain issues in industrial agriculture, particularly concerns with excess use of pesticides and fertilizers.

Others believe the production of livestock to be unnecessary, and suggest the abolishment of the industry altogether, promoting a vegan lifestyle.

See also

• Agribusiness
• Animal welfare
• Concentrated animal feeding operation
• Environmental vegetarianism
• Extensive farming
• Feedlot
• Intensive farming
• Intensive pig farming
• Organic farming
• Sustainable agriculture
• The Meatrix

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary, Second Ed. - factory
2. factory farming. Dictionary.com. Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.6). Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/factory farming (accessed: April 04, 2007).
3. USDA's "U.S. Farms: Numbers, Size, and Ownership"
4. Taken from testimony by Leland Swenson, president of the U.S. National Farmer's Union, before the House Judiciary Committee, September 12, 2000, cited in Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 29.
5. Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 29.
6. Dairy in Pennsylvania: A VITAL ELEMENT FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
7. "Cruelty to Animals: Mechanized Madness", PETA
8. Comis, Don, USDA Agricultural Research Service. "Settling Doubts about Livestock Stress." in Agricultural Research. March 2005. p. 4-7.
9. Smith, Lewis W., USDA Agricultural Research Service. “Forum – Helping Industry Ensure Animal Well-Being.” in Agricultural Research. March 2005. p. 2.
10. Nierenberg, Danielle. Factory Farming in the Developing World World Watch Magazine: May/June 2003.
11. "Agricultural Antibiotic Use Contributes To 'Super-bugs' In Humans", ScienceDaily, July 5, 2005.
12. "Facts about Pollution from Livestock Farms". National Resource Defense Council. Retrieved 2006-05-30.
13. "The Welfare of Intensively Kept Pigs - Report of the Scientific Veterinary Committee - Adopted 30 September 1997, European Commission, and "Opinion of the AHAW Panel related to the welfare aspects of various systems of keeping laying hens", European Food Safety Authority (7-Mar-2005)
14. Scholosser, Eric, interview with Morgan Spurlock;
15. Schlosser, Eric, Fast Food Nation;
16. Eisnitz, Gail, Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry
17. Duff, Wilson. "Fear In The Fields -- How Hazardous Wastes Become Fertilizer ...", The Seattle Times: July 3, 1997.

Further reading

Government regulation

• Brief History of CAFO Regulations - from the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture

Commissions assessing industrial agriculture

• National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, Independent commission studying the effects of intensive animal production

Proponent, neutral, and industry-related

• Journal of Extension, article on case studies of the impact of large scale agriculture
• US Farm Bureau, Farm and Ranchers association
• Coalition to Support Iowa Farmers
• Dairy Today magazine
• USDA food safety
• Purdue University food science extension

Criticism of factory farming

• Anti-agricultural FAQs on Factory Farming
• Fatal Harvest - The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
• Ask For Change resources for consumers
• A critique of factory farming
• FactoryFarming.com
• Cruelty to Animals: Mechanized Madness - Article with links to photos and videos of factory farming
• foie gras production - Video of Foie Gras production
• Husbandry Institute Promoting sustainable, responsible, and ethical animal husbandry
• Information about factory farming from The Humane Society of the United States
• Inside the California Egg Industry: An Undercover Investigation - Video of hens in battery cages at various intensive egg farming facilities. (2/4/06)
• The Meatrix - a parody of The Matrix
• The Meatrix 2: Revolting - the second installment of the Meatrix parodying The Matrix
• Meet Your Meat - a PETA-produced factory farm tour narrated by Alec Baldwin
• Factory Farms Blamed for Spread of Bird Flu
• See inside an egg factory farm
• See inside a chicken factory farm
• One of PA's largest egg farms charged with animal cruelty
• TorturedbyTyson.com - Undercover investigation of a Tyson Foods processing plant

• Livestock
• Poultry farming
• Animal rights
• Meat processing
• Agriculture