Industrial agriculture

Modern dairy farm

Industrial agriculture, also known as factory farming, 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^{[citation needed]}.

History

The practice of industrial agricultureses 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 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.

Animals

Arguments in favor

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

• Low cost — Intensive agriculture is necessary to meet demand for affordable food.^{[citation needed]}
• 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.
• Safe — Properly run factory farms meet and exceed the government standards for safe and humane food production of the countries in which they are located. Sometimes, as with the case of regulated aquaculture, it can actually be more environment friendly since it reduces the dependence of deep sea fishing and trawling ships that cause damage to the ecosystem and the catch in the long run.^{[citation needed]}
• 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.” ^[1]
• 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. A 2002 article by a representative of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, arguing against increased CAFO regulation, stated, "Poultry growers, largely free of regulatory controls, are managing their litter in an environmentally sound, agronomically beneficial manner."^[2]

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

Hardy Meyers chicken operation near Petal, Mississippi

Opponents say that what they refer to as factory farming is cruel,^[3][4][5], 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." ^[6]

Arguments and claims 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").^{[citation needed]}. The use of animal byproduct feeds, including bone meal, directly resulted in the spread of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which has affected over 180,000 cattle and 170 people.

• Air and water pollution — Large quantities and concentrations of waste are produced ^[7]. 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 birth, commonly by slicing off the beak with a hot blade. 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.^[8]
• Resource overuse — Large populations of animals require a commensurately large amount of water and are depleting water resources in some areas. ^{[citation needed]}
• 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.^[9][10]

Opponents believe that intensive farming is responsible for many foodborne illnesses and many food safety risks. An estimated one out of every four cattle that enters a slaughterhouse may host toxic forms of the bacteria E. coli, ^{[citation needed]} and this is blamed on fecal contamination resulting from closely confined animals wallowing in their own manure. A Consumer Reports study^{[citation needed]} of nearly 500 supermarket chickens found campylobacter in 42 percent and salmonella in 12 percent, with up to 90 percent of the bacteria resistant to antibiotics. Eggs pose a salmonella threat to one out of every 50 people each year.^{[citation needed]} In total, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are 76 million instances of foodborne illness each year, and more than 5,000 deaths. ^{[citation needed]}

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.^[11]
• 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 GMOs varieties 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 use of fossil fuels for agrichemical manufacture and for farm machinery and long-distance distribution).

Some opponents say that the large chemical and agricultural companies are attempting to gain control over agricultural methods through aggressive litigation and legislation, extending even to the third world to destroy bio-diversity in favor of their "products." In third world countries, governments are confiscating family farms which have fed indigenous peoples for hundreds of years and selling the land to corporate factory farms to sell food overseas^{[citation needed]}. The solution to worldwide starvation, they say, is decentralization and bio-diversity not centralization and bio-centralization in the hands of a few international agricultural businesses. ^[12]

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. ^[13] 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 movements, and thus has a negative connotation, at least in public forums. However, it has also been included in modern dictionaries as simply referring to "large-scale agriculture". The term is generally used in opposition to the term family farm.

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 smaller farms serving local farmer's markets or community supported agriculture, and the reduction or elimination of synthetic agents in agriculture.

Some have proposed genetically modified foods as a solution in alleviating some of the issues of industrial agriculture, particularly excess use of pesticides and fertilizers.

A number of countries, including the United States, the member states of the European Union, and Japan have legislated organic production standards. These detailed regulations cover all aspects of agricultural production, processing, storage and transportation. Requirements such as minimum open pasture area for livestock (e.g. cows may require two acres per animal to meet organic standards) effectively preclude factory farming practices. Organic regulations are, however, in the domain of consumer protection, not agricultural policy, and are entirely voluntary.

References

See also

• Intensive farming
• Extensive farming
• Organic farming
• Compassion In World Farming
• Corporate farming
• Environmental vegetarianism
• Feedlot
• Intensive pig farming
• PETA
• Concentrated animal feeding operation
• Compassion Over Killing
• Farm Sanctuary

External Links

Government regulation

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

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
• 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

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