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In some farms sows are confined during pregnancy in 2 ft by 7 ft gestation crates because, according to pork producers and many veterinarians, sows will fight if housed in pens. The largest pork producer in the U.S. said in January 2007 that it will phase out gestation crates by 2017. They are being phased out in the European Union, with a ban effective in 2013 after the fourth week of pregnancy.

Factory farming is a system or method of intensive animal farming involving the raising of farm animals characterised by confinement of the animals at high stocking density, often in barren and unnatural conditions. The widespread practice aims to maximize profits by relying on economies of scale, modern machinery, biotechnology, and global trade. To increase the yield, synthetic hormones may be used to speed growth, while antibiotics and pesticides mitigate the spread of disease exacerbated by crowded living conditions.

Proponents of factory farming argue that it makes food production more efficient; that the animals are looked after in state-of-the-art confinement facilities and are content; that it is needed to feed the growing global human population; and that it protects the environment. Opponents argue that factory farming harms the environment, creates health risks, and abuses animals. The practice has become increasingly unpopular in Europe; Dr Gerhard Schroeder then German Chancellor, called for an end to factory farming in 2000 in response to Europe's BSE crisis, which British scientists blamed on methods associated with factory farming.

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. The term appears to be regarded as "activist terminology" in a farmers' publication. 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." In the U.S., factory farms are also known as confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), concentrated animal feeding operations, or intensive livestock operations (ILOs). 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".

The practice

Innovations in agriculture beginning in the late 1800s paralleled developments in mass production in other industries. 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. 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.

According to the BBC, factory farming in Britain began in 1947 when a new Agriculture Act granted subsidies to farmers to encourage greater output by introducing new technology, in order to reduce Britain's reliance on imported meat. The United Nations writes that intensification of animal production was seen as a way of providing food security. The agriculture correspondent of The Guardian wrote in 1964:

Factory farming, whether we like it or not, has come to stay. The tide will not be held back, either by the humanitarian outcry of well meaning but sometimes misguided animal lovers, by the threat implicit to traditional farming methods, or by the sentimental approach to a rural way of life. In a year which has been as uneventful on the husbandry side as it has been significant in economic and political developments touching the future of food procurement, the more far-seeing would name the growth of intensive farming as the major development.

More farming subsidies were granted by the 1967 Agriculture Act. In 1973, Britain joined the European Economic Community (EEC), now the European Union. The EEC's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) provided more subsidies still, which were heavily criticized as a cause of over-production, famously creating so-called beef and butter mountains throughout the 1980s.

Although Europe has become increasingly skeptical about the benefits of factory farming, after a series of diseases such as BSE (mad cow) and foot and mouth disease affected its agricultural industries, globally there are indications that the industrialized production of farm animals is set to increase. According to Denis Avery of the Hudson Institute, Asia increased its consumption of pork by 18 million tons in the 1990s. As of 1997, the world had a stock of 900 million pigs, which Avery predicts will rise to 2.5 billion pigs by 2050. He told the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley that three billion pigs will thereafter be needed annually to meet demand. He writes: "For the sake of the environment, we had better hope those hogs are raised in big, efficient confinement systems."

Scale, productivity and reduction of workforce

The practice of factory farming is currently widespread. Agricultural production across the world doubled four times between 1820 and 1975 to feed a global population of one billion human beings in 1800 and 6.5 billion in 2002. During the same period, the number of people involved in farming dropped as the process became more automated. In the 1930s, 24 percent of the American population worked in agriculture compared to 1.5 percent in 2002; in 1940, each farm worker supplied 11 consumers, whereas in 2002, each worker supplied 90 consumers. The number of farms has also decreased, and their ownership is more concentrated. In the U.S., four companies — including Philip Morris, the tobacco company — produce 81 percent of cows, 73 percent of sheep, 57 percent of pigs and 50 percent of chickens. In 1967, there were one million pig farms in America; as of 2002, there were 114,000, with 80 million pigs (out of 95 million) killed each year on factory farms as of 2002, according to the U.S. National Pork Producers Council. 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.

Characteristics

File:Factory-farm-exterior.jpg
Warehouses in which chickens are confined in a "concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO).
Interior of a hog confinement barn
Cows in a CAFO in the U.S.
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 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 must be protected with an impermeable liner, but can nonetheless leak waste into groundwater under some conditions, and runoff from manure spread back onto fields as fertilizer can leak into surface water 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.

Denis Avery of the Hudson Institute's agricultural think-tank, the Center for Global Food Issues, has called modern farming a "conservation triumph," because it involves getting higher yields of crops and livestock from land. He predicts that, after 2050, three billion pigs will be needed annually to meet demand: "For the sake of the environment," he writes, "we had better hope those hogs are raised in big, efficient confinement systems."

Ethical issues

According to some, 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 a result gestation crates, one of the more contentious practices, are the subject of laws in the US, Europe and around the world to phase out their use as a result of pressure to adopt less confined practices. Concerns about air pollution and ground water contamination, and the effects on human health of any pollution and the use of antibiotics and growth hormones, also arise.

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

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Supporting view

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.

See also

Sources and notes

  1. ^ Kaufmann, Mark. "Largest Pork Processor to Phase Out Crates", The Washington Post, January 26, 2007.
  2. "An HSUS Report: Welfare Issues with Gestation Crates for Pregnant Sows", The Humane Society of the United States, January 6, 2006.
  3. Turner, Jacky. "History of factory farming", United Nations
  4. ^ "EU tackles BSE crisis", BBC News, November 29, 2000.
  5. "Factory farming," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007.
  6. ^ Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, 2002, p. 258.
  7. ^ Avery, Dennis. "Big Hog Farms Help the Environment," Des Moines Register, December 7, 1997, cited in Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 30.
  8. ^ Harden, Blaine. "Supplements used in factory farming can spread disease", The Washington Post, December 28, 2003.
  9. ^ "Concentrated animal feeding operations", Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States Department of Health and Human Services.
  10. ^ McBride, A. Dennis. "The Association of Health Effects with Exposure to Odors from Hog Farm Operations", North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, December 7, 1998.
  11. ^ "Scientists: factory farming drop could end mad cow", CNN/Reuters, December 4, 2000.
  12. ^ "Sweeping changes to British farming", BBC News, December 1, 1965, with a more recent (undated) summary of the context.
  13. Oxford English Dictionary, Second Ed. - factory
  14. Alberta Farm Animal Care Update, Fall 2005
  15. Factory farming, Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.6). Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. (accessed: April 04, 2007).
  16. "Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOS)/Factory Farming", Library of Michigan Bibliography.
  17. ^ "State of the World 2006," Worldwatch Institute, p. 26.
  18. Comparative Standards for Intensive Livestock Operations in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
  19. Britannica concise definition
  20. "The History of Factory Farming", United Nations.
  21. Baker, Stanley. "Factory farms - the only answer to our growing appetite?", The Guardian, December 29, 1964.
  22. ^ Avery, Denis. "Commencement address," University of California, Berkeley, College of Natural Resources, May 21, 2000, cited in Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 30.
  23. It doubled between 1820 and 1920; between 1920 and 1950; between 1950 and 1965; and again between 1965 and 1975. Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 29.
  24. ^ Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 29.
  25. Testimony by Leland Swenson, president of the U.S. National Farmers' Union, before the House Judiciary Committee, September 12, 2000.
  26. Shen, Fern. "Md. Hog Farm Causing Quite a Stink," The Washington Post, May 23, 1999; and Plain, Ronald L. "Trends in U.S. Swine Industry," U.S. Meat Export Federation Conference, September 24, 1997, cited in Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 29.
  27. Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, pp. 259.
  28. Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, 2002, pp. 255-256.
  29. 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.
  30. Orlando, Laura. McFarms Go Wild, Dollars and Sense, July/August 1998, cited in Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 257.
  31. "Intensive farming is 'conservation triumph'," Chemistry and Industry, December 1, 1997.
  32. Animal rights concerns grow in California
  33. Washington Post: Largest Pork Processor to Phase Out Crates
  34. Dairy in Pennsylvania: A VITAL ELEMENT FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
  35. "Cruelty to Animals: Mechanized Madness", PETA
  36. Comis, Don, USDA Agricultural Research Service. "Settling Doubts about Livestock Stress." in Agricultural Research. March 2005. p. 4-7.
  37. Smith, Lewis W., USDA Agricultural Research Service. “Forum – Helping Industry Ensure Animal Well-Being.” in Agricultural Research. March 2005. p. 2.
  38. Nierenberg, Danielle. Factory Farming in the Developing World World Watch Magazine: May/June 2003.
  39. "Agricultural Antibiotic Use Contributes To 'Super-bugs' In Humans", ScienceDaily, July 5, 2005.
  40. Webster, Robert G. "H5N1 Outbreaks and Enzootic Influenza", CDC.
  41. "Factory farms are responsible for bird flu, according to a new report". NF News. February 20, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  42. Stephen Leahy (February 21, 2007). "Report Blames Factory Farms for Bird Flu". IPS. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  43. "Facts about Pollution from Livestock Farms". National Resource Defense Council. Retrieved 2006-05-30.
  44. "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)
  45. Scholosser, Eric, interview with Morgan Spurlock;
  46. Schlosser, Eric, Fast Food Nation;
  47. Eisnitz, Gail, Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry

Further reading

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