Factory Farming: Mass Production or
According to the Organic Consumers Association, in 1970 there were approximately 900,000 family farms in the United States; by 1997 there were only 139,000 family farms. This number is continually decreasing by the year. Why is this a problem? Factory farms promote abusive practices in order to maximize production at minimal cost at the expense of the environment, the community, and even our personal health. They house thousands of animals and inject them with hormones in order to maximize their growth and food output. The techniques being used are inhumane and are used thousands of times a day. According to the Organic Consumers Association, two out of every three animal products in stores come from factory farms. Factory farms dominate food production throughout the country. Animals most commonly consumed that require large-scale farming practices are cows, chickens and pigs. The methods of farming are not only bad for the animals themselves, but it’s affecting the meat we put into our bodies, and is therefore affecting one’s health. Factory farms ultimately have a negative effect on the health of both the animal and the consumer of the animal product.
In today’s traditional factory farms, beef cattle are being raised in cruel living environments. In an article written by Berry Estabrook titled Feedlots vs Pastures: Two Very Different Ways to Fatten Beef Cattle, published in “The Atlantic” written December 28th, 2011 says that most of Americas beef comes from factory farms. They are crammed by the thousands into crowded, confined dirt lots. The cattle have hardly any room to move around and are forced to live in piles of their own excrement. Due to the many cows, they are deprived from ve...
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...hat can be made towards stopping factory farming corporations from taking over. One of those ways could be to discovering how animal products are made. You can research companies that you commonly buy to make educating purchasing decisions when buying items from a grocery store. If you decide to buy an animal product, look up if the animals were forced to live in confined environments or if they were raised in open fields in their natural habitats. We can also spread the word to others. Talk to them about the problems with factory farming and the issues and encourage them to take action. This can range to anyone from a small audience like your family, to a much larger audience like a local school. By taking these small steps you will impact animals that are being abused, your personal health, the health of loved ones, and the health of others throughout the country.
Moreover, this system of mass farming leads to single crop farms, which are ecologically unsafe, and the unnatural treatment of animals (Kingsolver 14). These facts are presented to force the reader to consider their own actions when purchasing their own food because of the huge economic impact that their purchases can have. Kingsolver demonstrates this impact by stating that “every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we
Factory Farming “To identify with others is to see something of yourself in them and to see something of them in yourself--even if the only thing you identify with is the desire to be free from suffering.” ― Melanie Joy Factory Farming is a cruel way for industries to make big money. Animals are treated very poorly and are forced to live in unhealthy conditions. I believe that there are other ways to humanely use animals for food, without abusing and painfully leaving animals to slowly die for the pleasure of our people.
Factory farming began in the 1920s soon after the discovery of vitamins A and D. Shirley Leung said, when these vitamins are added to feed, animals no longer require exercise and sunlight for growth (B2). This allowed large numbers of animals to be raised indoors year-round. The greatest problem that was faced in raising these animals indoors was the spread of disease, which was fought against in the 1940s with the development of antibiotics. Farmers found they could increase productivity and reduce the operating costs by using machines and assembly-line techniques. Unfortunately, this trend of mass production has resulted in incredible pain and suffering for the animals. Animals today raised on factory farms have had their genes manipulated and pumped full of antibiotics, hormones, and other chemicals to encourage high productivity. In the fast food industry, animals are not considered animals at all; “they are food producing machines” (BBC). They are confined to small cages with metal bars, ammonia-filled air and artificial lighting or no lighting at all. They are subjected to horrible mutilations: beak searing, tail docking, ear cutting and castration. The worst thing is that ...
What if you were born to die and live a miserable, torturous life in between? This is everyday life for animals on factory farms. Factory Farming is a system of rearing livestock using intensive methods, by which poultry, pigs or cattle are confined indoors under strictly controlled conditions. [add in citation for definition] Factory farming isn’t only inhumane, but it’s also hurting our health, and we don’t even have the slightest clue. With our culture today, we believe whatever the media tells us; we trust them. Each and every year, the meat industries put mounds of money into advertising, brainwashing us and telling us what food we should eat. They run their advertisements on the television, radio, and Internet ads, and have even partnered with schools in exchange for free educational resources. We like to imagine that the meat we are eating was once free, happy, and had a fast death. But that is a lie. If we don’t do anything, who will? Did you know that more than 19 million animals are killed every hour? That means 19,011 animals are killed per minute (2013d). Animals in factory farms are born, raised, and slaughtered in confined buildings. They are never allowed out to run, to enjoy life. They are born to be killed and tortured in-between. This isn’t just about one farm animal, but a variety of them. +++ Last sentence is unnecessary, include in other sentences to tie in what different animals AND how it’s effecting humans. ++THESIS STATEMENT. ☺
...h? Factory farming holds no regards to animal welfare and it is why it must be stopped; shut down. Though things are easier said than done an effort should be taken to disclaim this notion. There is power in numbers the more people campaigning for animal rights and or welfare will bring about some change even if it’s small, but it’s a change nonetheless. Ending factory farming is not an overnight success it’s a process that will require every able bodied human who cares enough about this matter to take a stand. As we’ve seen you could be a vegan advocating for animal welfare in the meat industry. Humane animal agricultural is very possible such as family farms and vegetarian ranchers we just need to make that shift. A task in deed but not an impossible one to achieve.
Animals trapped in factory farms are severely abused and tortured from birth to death. Chickens sometimes will be starved for up to 2 weeks and given no water to shock their bodies into moulting, chickens and hens will have their beaks removed to prevent fighting between other animals. Pigs will get their tails cut off to stop other pigs biting them off. These cruel procedures are done to minimise as few of animals dying as possible so more product can be created by the farmer. Within factory farms, animals are abused with overuse of antibiotics to prevent disease and maximise their body growth to create a higher yield of product. According to Animal Rights Action, 2 out of 3 farms are now factory farmed worldwide and factory farming is only increasing this is leading to more animals being raised for slaughter, abused and tortured, mentally and physically. This is not fair. How would you feel losing your child minutes after it's born? As within factory farms, female cows get their calves are taken away from them within minutes they are born never to be seen again. This leaves these poor female cows depressed which causes them to lose weight and because of this are slaughtered as farmers want to maximise their yield of
Today, people are creating alternative ways to improve our way of living. They came up with factory farming, which is a modern agricultural industry that mass produce animals for the purpose of supplying food/products for human needs. Factory farm sites holds large number of animals to be raised for food in a confined space in an area to minimize operation cost, and the mass production brings down the food prices as they could produce adequate amount of animals to meet the demand. However, except for supplying the needs of humanity and making much cheaper food. Factory farming is an unhealthy agricultural practice to both human and the environment. Factory farming contributed
Factory farming is a modern agricultural practice that mass produce animals to meet the food consumption of human. Fatory farms house large number of animals to be raised for food in a confined space of farms to minimize operation cost, and the mass production drives down the food prices as they could produce excess amount of animals to meet the demand. However, except for offering human abundant amount of cheaper food, factory farming is an unhealthy agricultural practice to both human and the environment. Factory farming contributed to serious pollution problems, the animal treatments are inhumane and it has smothered the business opportunity of traditional farms and its workers by occupying their markets . Therefore, I strongly support that factory farming should be banned. I shall explain my point of view in the following essay.
Like many other industries, the farming industry has evolved into big business, “Animals on factory farms are regarded as commodities to be exploited for profit.” In each industry from clothing to instruments, the bosses want to make a profit. The more they can supply with the least amount of waste, the more profit they make. The same goes for factory farming. However instead of humans being the ones directly affected by big bosses, the animals are. They don’t have a voice, and can’t stand up for what is right or wrong. These animals are manipulated in every way to make a better profit. Factory farms mass produce animals for ...
It is horrifying to know the fact that the processed food that we eat today is once animals that are processed alive. The ignorance of the companies has caused the suffering of these poor animals. Gale (2013) writes, “.[media] do not tell us that chickens are the most tortured animals in factory farms and that most chickens have to stand on their own feces all day and end up getting litter burn from their manure. hens are often crammed together in cases so tiny that they do not get enough room to even lift a single wing—which then immobilizes them for their entire lives.”
Poultry is by far the number one meat consumed in America; it is versatile, relatively inexpensive compared to other meats, and most importantly it can be found in every grocery store through out the United States. All of those factors are made possible because of factory farming. Factory farming is the reason why consumers are able to purchase low-priced poultry in their local supermarket and also the reason why chickens and other animals are being seen as profit rather than living, breathing beings. So what is exactly is factory farming? According to Ben Macintyre, a writer and columnist of The Times, a British newspaper and a former chicken farm worker, he summed up the goal of any factory farm “... to produce the maximum quantity of edible meat, as fast and as cheaply as possible, regardless of quality, cruelty or hygiene” ( Macintyre, 2009). Factory farmers do not care about the safety of the consumers nor the safety of the chicken, all the industrial farmers have in mind are how fast they can turn a baby chick into a slaughter size chicken and how to make their chicken big and plumped. Factory farming is not only a health hazard to the well-being of the animals, but the environment, and human beings ;thus free range and sustainable farming need to be put into practice.
United States: Cows down: The beef business. (2008, March). The Economist, 386(8569), 52. Retrieved November 4, 2010, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1440248301).
The animals that are raised in factory farms, and the farms are ran just like any other business. According to the article Factory Framing, Misery of Animals, the factory farming industry strives to maximize output while minimizing cost, always at the animal’s expense. “The giant corporations that run most factory farms have found that they can make more money by squeezing as many animals as possible into tiny spaces, even though many of the animals die from disease or infection” (Factory Farming). This is actually quit disgusting that we eat food that walks around in each other’s feces and can attract disease. These animals live a life of abuse, but we sit back and say it’s okay because we will eventually eat them. “Antibiotics are used to make animals grow faster and to keep them alive in the unsanitary conditions. Research shows that factory farms widespread use of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria that threatens human health” (Factory Farming). These animals aren’t treated with proper care and we act as if they are machines. Chickens for example, become so big and distorted that their legs can longer support them. Eventually they die because they can longer walk to get food or water. According to Factory Farming, most of these animals have been genetically manipulated to grow larger and to produce more eggs and milk than they naturally
Factory farms have portrayed cruelty to animals in a way that is horrific; unfortunately the public often does not see what really goes on inside these “farms.” In order to understand the conditions present in these factory farms, it must first be examined what the animals in these factory farms are eating. Some of the ingredients commonly used in feeding the animals inside factory farms include the following: animal byproducts, plastic, drugs and chemicals, excessive grains, and meat from members of the same species. (Adams, 2007) These animals are tortured and used for purely slaughter in order to be fed on. Typically large numbers of animals are kept in closed and tight confinements, having only little room to move around, if even that. These confinements can lead to suffocation and death and is not rare. Evidence fr...
The growth of the world’s population has led to a growth in animal agriculture, because as population grows, the need for food does as well. Animal agriculture is the use of animal farms to produce animal products that are then consumed by the general public. As agribusiness expands, issues such as the need for farm insurance and animal rights have received more awareness. Modern day industrialism is being applied to animal agriculture in developed nations such as the United States and Canada. Farm Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on research in agribusiness and improving the economy through agriculture, claims that “the North American livestock industry is expected to