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Daniel Ferch
English 101
Mr. Brown
May 2015
Factory Farms for the Masses
There are times when mass producing a product goes too far, times when the costs
outweigh the gains and we find ourselves on the brink of a catastrophe. One of these times can
be seen today in the meat industry. The meat industry is one of the largest industries in the
United States. According to the North American Meat Institute in 2009 the meat and poultry
sales totaled $154.8 billion (NAMI). When farming is seen through the corporate eyes of profit,
too many corners are cut to reach their goals. Their practices have led to problems for our entire
country in all aspects of life. The meat industry negatively impacts our health, economy, and our
environment.
The meat industry has a history of neglect and lack of concern for both its employees and
the animals they produce. The first time this fact was revealed to the public was with Upton
Sinclair’s novel The Jungle. It showed the harsh working conditions that employees of the meat
industry faced, such as poor and dangerous working conditions and unsanitary environments. By
the 1980’s business in railroad stockyards and city pack houses rapidly declined (UFCW).
Packing plants were built near rural livestock farms and improvements to machinery started to
further streamline the slaughtering process, which sped up production and lowered worker cost
by reducing the number of workers needed and lowering their pay. This allowed these companies
to gain a large edge on their competitors. They drove many of their competitors out of business
and bought out many others. “In 1970, there were approximately 900,000 farms in the United
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States; by 1997, there were only 139,000” (Organic Consumers). Today there are five major
meat packing companies left, which control more than 80% of the market (UFCW). As they
continue to speed up production, the hazards for workers continue to increase. The meat industry
preyed on immigrants then just like they prey on undocumented workers today. They pay these
people low wages and are subjected to dangerous environments. Even today the meat packing
industry is regarded as one of the most dangerous factory jobs in America.
One of the meat industry’s key ways to survive is by using lobbyists. But instead
spreading their money to many different lawmakers, they have a small number of key lawmakers
and regulators that have a direct impact on their business interests (PBS). Another way the meat
industry survives is through propaganda. They keep the desire for meat in everyone’s mind by
creating catchy slogans such as “beef it’s what’s for dinner” and “Milk. It does a body good.”
Advertising for meat is seen in virtually every commercial regarding food. From the classic
“where’s the beef?” to the current burger ads which promote a masculine male attitude needing
to eat meat.The article from PETA titled “10 Things We Wish Everyone Knew About the Meat
and Dairy Industries” states:
Each year, U.S. Department of Agriculture–managed programs spend $550
million to bombard Americans with slogans… urging us to buy more animal
foods. Although people in every age group already eat more animal protein than
recommended—and far more than our forebears did—these promotional
programs are shockingly effective at making people buy even more. Each
marketing buck spent boosts sales by an average of $8, for an annual total of an
extra $4.6 billion in government-backed sales of meat, dairy products, and eggs.
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This advertising not only persuades people to buy more meat, but also creates a loyalty. It creates
an environment similar to sports teams by getting people to band behind meat without fully
realizing the truth of the industry.
The meat industry also attempts to justify their methods by showing how much they
contribute to our country. They use phrases like “feeding America essential nutrients, and
feeding the economy by employing 487,600 workers” (NAMI). They promote how they supply
the country with food by producing 92.9 billion pounds of meat (NAMI).
The part the meat industry forgets to mention is how this 92.9 billion pounds of meat is
responsible for 18% of green house gases (Rome).Which is more than the 13% green house
gasses produced from travel. This means that all of the airplanes, cars, trucks, and buses
combined don’t equal the green house gases that livestock produce. The damage to the
environment is caused not only by the animals themselves, but also by the new farmland that
provides food for these animals. Much of the food provided for livestock is grown in parts of the
world that cut down the rainforest in order to make room for this land. The rain forest is a vital
carbon sink for the world and without it there is much less opportunity for these gases to be
absorbed and contained.
Another major problem caused by factory farms is that they are the main cause for the
increase in e coli outbreaks. Any time the farmland floods from a large storm, run off containing
the manure and disease from the animals contaminates the water supply and drains into other
farm lands. This waste gets spread into our vegetables and other crops. Other diseases caused by
factory farms include MRSA, mad cow disease, and salmonella. Often the communities around
factory farms suffer from sickness. Exposure to animal waste and run off caused by factory
farms can cause respiratory problems, skin infections, nausea, depression, and even death
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(Organic Consumers). It is estimated that the waste cause by factory farms has polluted 35,000
miles of river (Organic Consumers). This waste isn’t only harmful to humans. Since 1995 one
billion fish have been killed from manure run off in the coastal area of North Carolina, and the
Maryland and Virginia tributaries leading into the Chesapeake Bay (Organic Comsumers).
Furthermore simply eating the meat from these farms is harmful to our health. Eating
meat has many negative health side effects such as inflammation, high blood pressure, increased
risk of cancer and heart problems. These health problems are higher in red meat. Americans have
a higher obesity rate than any other country in the world. This is linked to the high consumption
of meat that Americans have.
Easily the biggest debate against factory farms is the harm to animals. Animals are
harmed in almost every way imaginable. There is no concern at all for the animals at factory
farms. They are treated as if they are an inanimate object, and yet we treat inanimate objects
better than how we treat these animals. An online video from mercyforanimals.org displays the
brutal treatment animals receive at these farms:
There are reports of workers bashing in pig’s skulls with sledge hammers,
pigs being castrated then having their tails cut off without any kind of sedation.
Some of the methods to kill the animals include throwing animals into bins and
gassing them with carbon dioxide, others are bashed head first into the ground.
Some animals are killed merely because they are not growing fast enough or have
become sick. Pigs are often bashed in the head to stun them, and then they are
hung upside down where they then have their throats slit. Some of these pigs do
not get stunned properly and are conscious while their throats are cut. Others end
up being scalded by steam while alive in hair removal tanks.
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More than 200 million male chicks are killed each year, within an hour of
hatching because they do not produce eggs, and grow slower than the female
chicks. Male chicks are killed by throwing them into a giant grinding machine
while still alive. Others are thrown into a trash bag to suffocate. Chickens that are
raised in cages have their beaks cut off so they don’t peck each other. Many of
these chickens have feather loss and die of shock. (Truth Behind Meat
Production)
Dead animals are ground up and fed to other animals, which is the cause for mad cow disease.
Animals are crammed in areas so small they don’t even have room to turn. There is so little room
for these animals that they are forced to stand in their own feces. Farmers have even been
reported to have given pigs stress relief pills because their bodies cannot handle the environment
that they are forced to live in. Animals in factory farms often never see daylight or are exposed
to fresh air. Owners of factory farms have even tried to pass laws to prevent people from taking
photos within a certain radius around the farms. This is because if the public were to become
more aware of these problems they would take action. Much like Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle did
in the early 1900s.
Another issue is the one on giving animals at factory farms antibiotics. Farmers who run
factory farms argue that giving animals antibiotics isn’t harmful. They say that to not give them
antibiotics would cause consumers more harm than good and disease would spread rapidly in
animals. The truth is giving these antibiotics to animals is creating resistant strains of bacteria
that cannot be cured with antibiotics. These animals live in such horrible conditions that the
factory farms are forced to give them antibiotics to keep them alive.“Twenty million pounds of
antibiotics are given to animals of which 80% is used to promote growth” (Organic Consumers).
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Some of the chickens that are raised with these growth hormones grow too fast for their body.
Their legs end up too weak to carry them, and they are left unable to walk. Antibiotics in farm
animals leave behind drug resistant microbes in their meat and milk. When we eat these foods
we are ingesting the microbes which transfer drug resistant bacteria to our body (Organic
Consumers).
The meat industry is often regarded to be like the tobacco industry. They are viewed as
an extremely powerful organization that cannot be stopped. However just like the tobacco
industry, they can be stopped. It starts with consumers speaking up. If enough awareness is given
to the problem people can rally together and demand change. It is in everyone’s best interest to
change the way the meat industry runs. Currently to produce animal products, ten times the land
is needed as vegetable products. This is because there also needs to be land set aside for the food
for all the animals. The biggest flaw about this system is that producing animals this way is not
sustainable. With the rate of population growth, eventually there will not be enough resources
available to produce enough meat. Not to mention that meat has become increasingly unhealthy
due to the methods of the factory farms. People can simply choose to not eat meat and there will
be no need for factory farms. However, this is highly unrealistic. Instead by simply reducing the
amount of meat people intake can also have massive effects. If Americans didn’t eat meat for
just one day a week, it would be the equivalent of taking 500,000 cars off the road. It is not only
beneficial for the world to eat less meat, but it is also beneficial for the individual. By eating less
meat people are able to lower their cholesterol, reduce their chance of diabetes, and lower their
chance of being obese.
Another way to promote alternative options of food would be to increase subsidizing in
fruits and vegetables. “The American government spends $38 billion each year to subsidize the
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meat and dairy industries, but only 0.04 percent of that ($17 million) each year to subsidize fruits
and vegetables (PETA). The current system is counterproductive to our health. We are
encouraged to eat more fruits and vegetables while eating less meat, however the money given to
farmers rewards them for producing crops and animals that are unhealthy for us. The meat
industry attempts to lead us to believe that farm subsidies are available for small farmers to gain
aid. However, the subsidies end up going toward large farm owners who do not need the extra
help. “In the last 15 years, two-thirds of American farmers didn’t receive a single penny from
direct subsidies worth more than $100 billion; the funds mainly went to big corporations. The
subsidy money spurs the growth of factory farms, which are surprisingly bad for local
economies” (PETA). They employ fewer workers per animal than regular farms, and they buy
most of their supplies outside the local area.
The most effective way to solve to problem of factory farms is to simply eat less meat.
The world will not be able to sustain enough land for the amount of animals that are being
consumed per person. Therefore is we reduce our demand for meat we can alter the way we
produce it. We can go back to traditional farms where animals have the potential to live a life not
of torture.
This desire against factory farms can be seen in the public too. The rise of organic and
free range farms shows a way to combat the methods of factory farms. People don’t mind paying
more for meat when they know it was raised on a natural diet for the animal. These types of
approaches are beneficial for all sides. The meat industry can still produce meat, although not on
the level they currently are. The individual will not only get healthier by eating less meat but
they will also be eating healthier meat. Lastly it will benefit the animals. Even though they will
still be used for food they will not live in constant abuse and suffering.
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The best option for the world would be to stop eating meat. This however, is the most
unrealistic approach because we have thousands of years of ingrained habits and traditions
telling us to eat meat. For some people, eating meat is a part of their religion. Others simply
enjoy the taste of meat and refuse to choose an alternative. It is not necessary to eat meat to stay
healthy. We are able to gain protein from a wide variety of vegetables, including avocados,
beans, and nuts. A diet of vegetables is not only possible but also healthier for people. Eating
more vegetables leads to increased energy levels, increased immune system, lowered chance of
diabetes, and lowered chance of cancer. Not to mention by switching to producing vegetables we
would use about twelve times less water. If the need for meat is removed from the world, then
the largest green house gas emitter will be removed. Additionally millions of animals will no
longer need to be slaughtered each year.
Regardless of which option is better or more likely, the truth is still the same. This is that
factory farms need to end. Even with the employment that factory farms create it is still far more
beneficial to get rid of them. This is because their costs are so high that any small boost to the
economy from jobs and business is canceled out from the negative health effects factory farms
cause and the negative effects on the environment, which in turn makes the only economic effect
negative. The primary causes of our health problems are diet related. Even the health problems
that are not caused by diet can be healed through proper diet. The careless desire for a faster
more efficient machine to produce meat is leading us into catastrophe. The only news that would
backfire on getting rid of factory farms would be if plants feel pain when we pick them.
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Works Cited
“Disturbing Facts on Factory Farming & Food Safety.” Organicconsumers.org. Organic
Conumers Association, Inc. 2013. Web. May 2015.
“Pigs: Intelligent Animals Suffering in Factory Farms and Slaughterhouses.” Peta.org. PETA.
Web. May 2015.
“10 Things We Wish Everyone Knew About the Meat and Dairy Industries” peta.org. PETA.
Web. May 2015.
“The United States Meat Industry at a Glance.” Meatinstitute.org. North American Meat
Institute. Web. May 2015.
“Packing and Processing.” ufcw.org. The United Food and Commercial Workers International
Union. Web. May 2015.
Johnson, Steve. “The Politics of Meat.” Pbs.org. Frontline. Web. May 2015.
Rome. “Livestock a major threat to the environment.” Fao.org. FAONewsroom. 29 November
2006. Web. May 2015.
Geer, Abigail. “5 Modern Diseases on the Rise Because of Factory Farming.”
Onegreenplanet.org. One Green Planet. 9 January 2014. Web. May 2015.
“The Truth Behind Meat Production.” Mercyforanimals.org.Youtube.19 May 2013. Web. May
2015.