Factory farming

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Factory farming describes the raising of farm animals indoors under conditions of extremely restricted mobility, as part of a set of methods designed to produce the highest output at the lowest cost, using economies of scale, modern machinery, modern medicine, and global trade for financing, purchases and sales. To increase the yield of animals, they are kept in strict confinement, while growth hormones speed growth, and antibiotics mitigate the spread of disease exacerbated by crowded living conditions.

The practice is widespread in developed nations. According to the Worldwatch Institute, 74 percent of the world's poultry, 43 percent of beef, and 68 percent of eggs are produced this way. In the U.S., four companies produce 81 percent of cows, 73 percent of sheep, 60 percent of pigs, and 50 percent of chickens. According to that country's National Pork Producers Council, 80 million of its 95 million pigs killed each year are reared in factory farms.

Proponents of factory farming argue that it makes food production more efficient, while opponents argue that it harms the environment, creates health risks, and abuses animals. Dr Gerhard Schroeder called for an end to factory farming in 2000 during his term in office as Germany's chancellor, in response to Europe's BSE crisis, which British scientists blamed on factory farming methods.

Origin of the term and history of the practice

The term

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. It is now used widely by mainstream news organizations. A 1998 documentary, A Cow at My Table, shows the term is also used within the agricultural industry. Webster's New Millennium defines it as "a system of large-scale industrialized and intensive agriculture that is focused on profit with animals kept indoors and restricted in mobility." Encyclopaedia Britannica describes the term as "descriptive of standard farming practice in the U.S." and that the term "is frequently used by animal-rights activists".

Factory farms are sometimes called confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), concentrated animal feeding operations, or intensive livestock operations (ILOs). The practice is also referred to simply as "intensive farming" or "industrial farming" when referring to modern methods of livestock production. The term "factory farming" may also at times be used to refer to industrial agriculture in general.

The practice

The practice of factory farming 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 and vaccines 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.

Characteristics

File:Factory-farm-exterior.jpg

Warehouses in which chickens are confined in a "concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO).

File:Factory-farm-dairy-barn.jpg

The entrance to a dairy barn

Factory farms hold large numbers (some up to hundreds of thousands) of animals, typically cows, hogs, turkeys, or chickens, usually indoors. The aim of the operation is to produce as much meat, eggs, or milk at the lowest possible cost. Food is supplied in place, and artificial methods are employed to maintain animal health and improve production, such as the use of antimicrobial agents, vitamin supplements, and growth hormones. Growth hormones are not used in chicken meat production. Physical restraints are used, such as chicken debeaking, to control behavior regarded as undesirable.

The distinctive characteristic of factory farms is the intense concentration of livestock. At one farm (Farm 2105) run by Carrolls Foods of North Carolina, the second-largest pig producer in the U.S., twenty pigs are kept per pen, each pen is 7.5 square feet, and each confinement building or "hog parlor" holds 25 pens. As of 2002, the company kills one million pigs every 12 days. Carrolls, which is owned by Smithfield Foods, switched to total confinement in 1974. The company's chief executive officer, F.J. "Sonny" Faison, has said: "It's all a supply-and-demand price question ... The meat business in this country is just about perfect, uncontrolled supply-and-demand free enterprise. And it continues to get more and more sophisticated, based on science. Only the least-cost producer survives in agriculture." The animals are better off in total confinement, according to Faison:

They're in state-of-the-art confinement facilities. The conditions that we keep these animals in are much more humane than when they were out in the field. Today they're in housing that is environmentally controlled in many respects. And the feed is right there for them all the time, and water, fresh water. They're looked after in some of the best conditions, because the healthier and content that animal, the better it grows. So we're very interested in their well-being — up to an extent.

Environmental issues

The designation "confined animal feeding operation" in the U.S. resulted from that country's 1972 Federal Clean Water Act, which was enacted to protect and restore lakes and rivers to a "fishable, swimmable" quality. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified certain animal feeding operations, along with many other types of industry, as point source polluters of groundwater. These operations were designated as CAFOs and subject to special anti-pollution regulation.

In 24 states in the U.S., isolated cases of groundwater contamination has been linked to CAFOs. For example, the ten million hogs in North Carolina generate 19 million tons of waste per year. The U.S. federal government acknowledges the waste disposal issue and requires that animal waste be stored in lagoons. These lagoons can be as large as 7.5 acres. Lagoons not protected with an impermeable liner can leak waste into groundwater under some conditions, as can runoff from manure spread back onto fields as fertilizer in the case of an unforeseen heavy rainfall. A lagoon that burst in 1995 released 25 million gallons of nitrous sludge in North Carolina's New River. The spill allegedly killed eight to ten million fish.

Ethical issues

The large concentration of animals, animal waste, and dead animals in a small space poses ethical issues. Animal rights and animal welfare activists have charged that intensive animal rearing is cruel to animals. As they become more common, so do concerns about air pollution and ground water contamination, and the effects on human health of the pollution and the use of antibiotics and growth hormones.

Health issues

One particular problem with farms on which animals are intensively reared is the growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Because large numbers of animals are confined in a small space, any disease would spread quickly, and so antibiotics are used preventively. A small percentage of bacteria are not killed by the drugs, which may infect human beings if it becomes airborne.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), farms on which animals are intensively reared can cause adverse health reactions in farm workers. Workers may develop acute and chronic lung disease, musculoskeletal injuries, and may catch infections that transmit from animals to human beings.

The CDC writes that chemical, bacterial, and viral compounds from animal waste may travel in the soil and water. Residents near such farms report nuisances such as odors and flies, as well as adverse health effects.

The CDC has identified a number of pollutants associated with the discharge of animal waste into rivers and lakes, and into the air. The use of antibiotics may create antibiotic-resistant pathogens; parasites, bacteria, and viruses may be spread; ammonia, nitrogen, and phosphorus can reduce oxygen in surface waters and contaminate drinking water; pesticides and hormones may cause hormone-related changes in fish; animal feed and feathers may stunt the growth of desirable plants in surface waters and provide nutrients to disease-causing micro-organisms; trace elements such as arsenic and copper, which are harmful to human health, may contaminate surface waters.

Arguments for and against

Main article: Challenges and issues of industrial agriculture

Supporting view

File:Dairy2.jpg

Dairy cattle on an industrial farm.

Proponents say that large-scale intensive farming is a useful and proven agricultural advance. The argued benefits include:

Low cost — Intensive agriculture tends to produce food that can be sold at lower cost to consumers.
Efficiency — 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 food borne 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.

Opposing view

Opponents say that factory farming is cruel, that it poses health risks, and that it 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:

Mad Cow Disease — Factory farming techniques may lead to a higher incidence of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, which in turn is claimed to cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. In light of recently discovered cases of mad cow disease, Germany's chancellor, Dr Gerhard Schroeder, called for a stop of the practice of factory farming, asking instead for a more 'consumer-friendly' policy, while British scientists called for farmers move away from intensive agriculture, saying the end of factory farming was the only way to kill mad cow disease.

Other diseases — 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"). Use of animal vaccines can create new viruses that kill people and cause flu pandemic threats. H5N1 is an example of where this might have already occurred.

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. Contaminants such as dust or foul smells can pollute air.
Ethics — Cruelty to animals: 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 actions 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.

Sources and notes

^ Cite error: The named reference Kaufmann was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "EU tackles BSE crisis", BBC News, November 29, 2000.
"Is factory farming really cheaper?" in New Scientist, Institution of Electrical Engineers, New Science Publications, University of Michigan, 1971, p. 12.
"Factory farming," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007.
^ "State of the World 2006," Worldwatch Institute, p. 26.
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.
Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 29.
Cite error: The named reference CBC2000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Blaine Harden (December 28, 2003). "Supplements used in factory farming can spread disease". The Washington Post. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ "Concentrated animal feeding operations", Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States Department of Health and Human Services.
^ A. Dennis McBride, MD, MPH (December 7, 1998). "The Association of Health Effects with Exposure to Odors from Hog Farm Operations". North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Cite error: The named reference mc2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Oxford English Dictionary, Second Ed. - factory
Factory farming, Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.6). Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. (accessed: April 04, 2007).
Britannica concise definition
"Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOS)/Factory Farming", Library of Michigan Bibliography.
Comparative Standards for Intensive Livestock Operations in Canada, Mexico, and the United States
Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, pp. 259.
^ Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, 2002, p. 258.
Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, 2002, pp. 255-256.
Sweeten, John et al. "Fact Sheet #1: A Brief History and Background of the EPA CAFO Rule". MidWest Plan Service, Iowa State University, July 2003.
Orlando, Laura. McFarms Go Wild, Dollars and Sense, July/August 1998, cited in Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 257.
Dairy in Pennsylvania: A VITAL ELEMENT FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
"Cruelty to Animals: Mechanized Madness", PETA
Comis, Don, USDA Agricultural Research Service. "Settling Doubts about Livestock Stress." in Agricultural Research. March 2005. p. 4-7.
Smith, Lewis W., USDA Agricultural Research Service. “Forum – Helping Industry Ensure Animal Well-Being.” in Agricultural Research. March 2005. p. 2.
Nierenberg, Danielle. Factory Farming in the Developing World World Watch Magazine: May/June 2003.
"Agricultural Antibiotic Use Contributes To 'Super-bugs' In Humans", ScienceDaily, July 5, 2005.
According to the CDC article H5N1 Outbreaks and Enzootic Influenza by Robert G. Webster et. al.:"Transmission of highly pathogenic H5N1 from domestic poultry back to migratory waterfowl in western China has increased the geographic spread. The spread of H5N1 and its likely reintroduction to domestic poultry increase the need for good agricultural vaccines. In fact, the root cause of the continuing H5N1 pandemic threat may be the way the pathogenicity of H5N1 viruses is masked by co-circulating influenza viruses or bad agricultural vaccines."(CDC H5N1 Outbreaks and Enzootic Influenza by Robert G. Webster et. al.) Dr. Robert Webster explains: "If you use a good vaccine you can prevent the transmission within poultry and to humans. But if they have been using vaccines now for several years, why is there so much bird flu? There is bad vaccine that stops the disease in the bird but the bird goes on pooping out virus and maintaining it and changing it. And I think this is what is going on in China. It has to be. Either there is not enough vaccine being used or there is substandard vaccine being used. Probably both. It’s not just China. We can’t blame China for substandard vaccines. I think there are substandard vaccines for influenza in poultry all over the world."(MSNBC quoting Reuters quoting Robert G. Webster) In response to the same concerns, Reuters reports Hong Kong infectious disease expert Lo Wing-lok saying, "The issue of vaccines has to take top priority," and Julie Hall, in charge of the WHO's outbreak response in China, saying China's vaccinations might be masking the virus."(Reuters) The BBC reported that Dr Wendy Barclay, a virologist at the University of Reading, UK said: "The Chinese have made a vaccine based on reverse genetics made with H5N1 antigens, and they have been using it. There has been a lot of criticism of what they have done, because they have protected their chickens against death from this virus but the chickens still get infected; and then you get drift - the virus mutates in response to the antibodies - and now we have a situation where we have five or six 'flavours' of H5N1 out there."(BBC Bird flu vaccine no silver bullet 22 February 2006)
"Facts about Pollution from Livestock Farms". National Resource Defense Council. Retrieved 2006-05-30.
"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)
Scholosser, Eric, interview with Morgan Spurlock;
Schlosser, Eric, Fast Food Nation;
Eisnitz, Gail, Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry

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