Jay Lalik
English 2010
Carolyn Holloway
February 24, 2013
Factory Farming and Its Effects On The Environment and Economy
The meat and fishing industries, components of the agriculture field at large, are among the most
controversial of the food industry. Treatment of animals and the environmental impact of
pollution, grazing on precious land, decimation of marine populations due to overfishing are
some of the many factors that are front and center in the public’s view of these industries. While
there is no denying that negative consequences of the meat and fishing industries exist, it is
highly doubtful that any meaningful portion of people in developed countries will consider
giving up meat and or fish on a voluntary basis. Meat is a staple of not only the Western diet but
diets in cultures around the world. Is it possible to maintain a meat-heavy diet in a sustainable
and humane way?
The daily recommendation of protein foods for the moderately active young adult are 5.5 ounces
for a 19-30 year old woman and 6.5 ounces for a 19-30 year old man according to MyPlate.gov.
which has replaced the traditional food pyramid. The new government recommended food
groups on My Plate consist of fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and protein foods. The “protein
foods group” consists of traditional meats and fish but also includes eggs, beans, peas, tofu
products, and other higher protein non-animal foods. (Choose My Plate) Even if a semi-active
young adult chooses to eat protein solely in the form of animal meat the average amount eaten in
America is much more than the My Plate recommended 5.5 to 6.5 ounces.
In a modern society meat and fish is overwhelmingly purchased rather than hunted, trapped, or
caught. So, where does this meat come from? Much of the meat consumed in the U.S. comes
from a few manufacturers. The “Big Four Meatpackers” in the United States are Tyson, JBS,
Cargill, and National Beef. Of the 35 million cattle used in the U.S. meat industry, these
companies control over 80 percent of all beef slaughtered, among their many other agriculture
ventures. (hcn.org) According to a claim on the Tyson company’s website “The Tyson Foods
FarmCheck™ animal well-being program includes third-party on-farm audits, an advisory panel
of animal well-being experts from around the country, and support of research on improving
animal live production.” Donnie Smith, Tyson Foods President and CEO states "Here's what I
want people to know: at Tyson, we care enough to check on the farm; and we’re determined to
find better, smarter ways to care for and raise healthy animals." (Tyson Foods) Tyson even
produces an extensive “Sustainability Report”, last published in 2012. This report includes
environmental and animal-wellbeing issues that Tyson claims to have a strong commitment to.
(Tyson Foods 2012)
While meat companies claim to produce a product in an ethical and sustainable way there is a
wealth of information that claims the contrary. Among the most vocal and most well-known is
the group PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “Meet Your Meat”, narrated by
actor Alec Baldwin, is a widely viewed yet very disturbing video regarding the cruelty of modern
factory farming. Focusing on chickens, cows, and pigs, “Meet Your Meat” shows undercover
footage of industry animals being treated in incredibly cruel ways prior to slaughter. The goal of
“Meet Your Meat” is to convince people to “consider vegetarianism for the animals, the
environment, and your health.” (Meet Your Meat) PETA’s mission statement assertion is that
“Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other
way” (PETA)
A 2013 article by Paul Sarotoff appearing in Rolling Stone magazine, “In The Belly Of The
Beast”, is about undercover investigations with the help of the Humane Society of the United
States (HSUS) in the fashion of the PETA video “Meet Your Meat”. The activists in Sarotoff’s
article are attempting to keep an eye on the meat industry which is something they claim that the
government refuses or is unable to do. These activists believe that they are the only ones who
can shine light on the goings on inside the factory farms, and what goes on is worthy of public
knowledge. According to the article some states have passed “Ag-Gag bills” to make it illegal to
go undercover in the meat industry under an assumed name or to hold evidence past 48 hours
while conducting an investigation, virtually eliminating any chance of future legitimate farming
investigations. These investigations have uncovered unimaginable cruelty towards animals who
live in terrible conditions, living confined and filthy lives. Plants, such as a Westland/Hallmark
meat plant have been shut down as a result of similar investigations. Large companies such as
McDonalds have agreed to phase out certain foods found to have been raised by companies that
condone animal abuses. The activists in Sarotoff’s article are not trying to end the meat industry,
they just claim to want reform. “Wherever you stand on eating animals, I think we agree that
making their lives hell is too high a price for cheap food. (Sarotoff)
The advent of factory farms began in the 1950s when then Secretary of Agriculture under
President Eisenhower, Ezra Taft Benson, told small farmers to “get big, or get out”. Earl Butz,
secretary of Agriculture under President Nixon, told farmers to “plow fence row to fence row.”
(Jackson) According to the Humane Society, factory farms have replaced family farms in the
last 60 years and these factory farms endanger the welfare of the animals, damage public health,
the environment, and destroy the livelihoods of small farmers in the name of cheap animal foods.
(Factory Farming In The United States)
Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, a research think tank at Stanford University with
a goal of sustainable human and environmental interaction, supported a two year study of the
environmental impact on meat consumption. Harold A Mooney, a professor of Biology and
senior fellow at the Woods institute and one of the researchers in this study thinks in a logical,
non-activist way. "People aren't going to stop eating meat. The industry is massive, it's growing
and it has huge environmental and social impacts. So we decided to look at it globally and see
the options available for reducing the detrimental effects of meat production as well as enhancing
positive attributes." While the world demand for meat is expected to double by 2020. Farming
is becoming even more industrialized, causing environmental issues such as runoff, soil erosion,
ecosystem destruction, odor, and global warming. Two thirds of agriculture land is used to feed
animals, less than ten percent of this land is used for food that humans directly eat. With these
issues plaguing society the findings from the Woods institute are surprisingly simple. “One
solution is for countries to adopt policies that provide incentives for better management practices
that focus on land conservation and more efficient water and fertilizer use, Mooney said.” The
logical idea of comparative advantage comes into play. In other words, a country grows or
produces what they are good at growing or producing while importing what is not efficiently
grown or produced. The examples of Japan and Brazil are used. Japan imports grain for animal
feed from Brazil because Brazil can produce the grain more efficiently while Japan would have
to use way too much land to do so. While this is good economically, the environmental impact is
not sustainable. (Stanford)
The fishing industry has not been immune to modern industrialization and has been changed in a
similar manner to that of the meat industry. Over half of seafood consumed in the U.S. comes
from fish farms, which are run in the factory farm style. These methods produce nutritional and
environmental problems. For instance, the farmed fish lack omega 3 fatty acids and contain
toxins. Fish farms create massive pollution that finds its ways into other ecosystems. These
farms also promote overfishing of fish that goes to feed farmed salmon and tuna which need up
to five pounds of fish a day for each pound of their bodyweight. The U.S. government promotes
factory farming with farm subsidies. The meat and dairy industries are subsidized to the tune of
$38 billion a year while fruits and vegetables are subsidized with $17 million, well over 2000
times less. This has caused the price of meat to artificially drop which in turn has caused
consumption to rise. (Simon)
Who is receiving these massive agricultural subsidies? According to the Cato Institute’s “Cato
Handbook For Policy Makers”, over 90 percent of agricultural subsidies are set aside for wheat,
corn, soybeans, rice, and cotton. Soybeans and corn are major ingredients for animal feed. Over
one million farmers receive these subsidies but the largest companies receive the most. (Cato
Handbook) The Cato institute recognizes five reasons to get rid of farm subsidies which Cato
calls a form of corporate welfare. They claim that farm subsidies are a redistribution of wealth to
the already wealthy large corporations. Farm subsidies cause economic distortions from
overproduction of food to artificial prices. These subsidies also contribute to environmental
damage due to inducing farmers to use too much of their farm land and too many fertilizers and
pesticides. The Cato institute claims that farming is not a uniquely risky business. Farms would
thrive without subsidies due to the need for raising efficiency in planting and resource usage.
(The Cato Institute)
It doesn’t seem possible to maintain the current process of factory farming, and meat
consumption in the United States and around the world. There are obviously many reasons to
find a better way. The effects of our current factory farming system is terrible in so many ways
in so many areas. Factory farming is destructive to the environment, human health, and to the
economy. This destructiveness is easy for the industry to hide and easy for the consumer to
overlook. The fact is that this system of factory farming is just an extension of modern human
society and modern living.
So much of humanity is disconnected to nature through technology. Humans walk less than in
the past. There is no need to be outside for a prolonged period of time unless one wishes to be.
Humans are protected from weather through buildings and modern vehicles. Civilization has
removed harmful or dangerous animals away from human populations and put these creatures
into zoos for amusement purposes. Finally, and for the purpose of this article, humans no longer
need to hunt, farm, or gather food. Humans earn money to purchase food. The modern food
industry allows a person to simply stop in a single location to purchase all necessary, and
unnecessary, forms of food.
This disconnect from nature promotes a disconnect from reality. It is easy to ignore the suffering
of an animal killed for the purpose human consumption if the end product is in a form
unrecognized in nature and placed in an attractive package. The environmental impact of the
production of the meat product is easy to ignore since the city in which we purchased the item is
made of concrete and is itself quite polluted. The transfer of wealth from tax payer to meat
conglomerate is difficult to see since the price for the product is relatively low. The taxes are
basically unseen since this money is usually taken out of one’s income prior to the check being
distributed to the worker or deposited in their bank account.
In order to rectify this situation people need to understand what is going on. One should think
about what one eats rather than just mindlessly stuffing food in their mouths. If more people
realized what they were eating, or where the food that they eat comes from, then change would
be demanded. Until this disconnect is changed, nothing described above will ever improve. I
am as guilty as anybody regarding passive acceptance of factory farming, I throw no stones. I
am, though, one of many who see the need for, at the least, a more efficient and humane way of
food production. Populations around the world are rising and food production must keep up. If
we are to live in a land free of artificial drought, massive pollution, and unnatural food-caused
diseases then factory farming must be a process of the past.
Works Cited
Choose My Plate. United States Department of Agriculture, 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
Meet Your Meat. Dir. Bruce Friedrich, Cem Akin. Perf. Alec Baldwin.
People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals, 2002. Film
Tyson Foods. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2014
Tyson Foods 2012 Sustainability Report. 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2014
Sarotoff, Paul. “In The Belly of the Beast.” Rolling Stone. Dec. 2013 Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
Jackson, Wes “Tackling The Most Important Environmental Problem: Agriculture And Its
Impact On Soil.” The Post Carbon Reader. (2010) Post Carbon Institute. Web. 14 Feb. 2014
“Factory Farming In America.” The Humane Society of the United States. Web. 14 Feb. 2014
Stanford Woods Institute For The Environment. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2014
Simon, David Robinson. Meatonomics. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2014
“Cato Handbook for Policy Makers.” The Cato Institute. 7th Ed. Sec. 18. Web. 14 Feb. 2014
The Cato Institute. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2014