Humans started farming to support growing populations, but has farming made a turn for the worse? The development of factory farms has harmed both the environment and the animals used for agriculture. Large farms make up a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions, cause deforestation, and contribute to animal abuse. The methods for farming used today are not an improvement over early foraging. Factory farms have led humans to unhealthier diets than early foragers. Factory farms and processed food have caused a dramatic increase in obesity in the recent past, and made obesity an epidemic in the United States. Foods that are becoming top calorie sources, according to the Huffington Post, are things like breads, cakes, sweet drinks, pizza, and alcohol. Factory produced foods are leading to a rise in obesity, especially in recent times, which wasn’t a problem with foragers. Factory farms and factory produced foods are not only producing fatty foods and obesity, they are producing many pollutants. …show more content…
According to PETA, food production from factory farms contributes to around 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In the United States alone, the animals used for agriculture produce more excrement than the entire human population. Farms also contribute to deforestation, because, according to One Green Planet, in the Amazon, the amount of trees removed could increase the rate of global warming by 50%. In the seas, commercial fish farms release feces, antibiotics, parasites, and nonnative fish into vulnerable ecosystems. Factory farms are contributing to pollution everywhere, from the land, to the air, to the sea. At the same time animals in factory farms are hurting the environment, we are hurting
Every year worldwide, over seventy billion animals are killed for food in factories without the inclusion aquatic animals (“Factory Farms Overview¨). The animal rights movement began in Europe during the nineteenth century to protect horses, dogs and cats (Recarte 1). However, now modern animal rights groups have switched their focus to factory farms, test animals and the removal of ag-gag laws. The fight to create less painful and stressful environments in factories and the altogether removal of animal testing and ag-gag laws has been taken on by animal rights groups like ASPCA (“Factory Farms”). The biggest issue currently facing animals is factory farming.
food production by using abusive practices towards animals. Animals undergo painful mutilations and are bred to grow really fast and large so they can maximize meat, egg, and milk production for the food industry. Their bodies are not able to support the quick growth, which results in painful conditions and deformities. Factory farming hurts our natural resources and the amount of waste created by raising so many animals in one place pollutes our land, air, and water. Factory farming should be controlled and kept to a certain requirement.
Agriculture is the practice of farming and it has widely affected the world today. There are some believers that it has ruined human race because of how it revolutionized the hunter- gatherer’s society. Jared Diamond, an author, wrote “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race,” which he explains how he believes that agriculture has ruined us today. He states many facts about the conversion of being a hunter-gatherer society to an agricultural society ruined the world. The transition had a negative effect on the human race, but the positivity that came out of it outweighed the bad and it has allowed the world to progress and advance every day.
How would you feel being raised for slaughter? Not being able to move because of a large crowd in such a confined space? How would you feel being encircled by disease, illness and constant abuse? To animals, this is known as a factory farm.
If you imagine your daily diet it most likely contains milk, meat, eggs, or dairy. What you don't imagine is the unhealthy and torturous methods used to get you those foods from factory farms. "A factory farm is a large, industrial operation that raises large numbers of animals for food. Over 99% of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in factory farms, which focus on profit and efficiency at the expense of animal welfare." (ASPCA.org) Animals living in factory farms do not live a natural life and do not get to live on their born instincts. They are held in small cages and are housed with many other animals with little space for each animal.
Did you know that over fifty-six billion animals, all over the world are being slaughtered for meat production yearly? This is caused by the high demands for meat, since the consumption of meat has increased annually. To accommodate the meat demands the agricultural farming has turned to factory farming. An intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also called factory farming. Factory farming is a large, industrial operation that cultivates large quantities of animals to meet the food consumption of humans. In the United States, Over ninety-nine percent of farm animals are raised in factory farms, these factories were invented to focus on profit and efficiency. They do this by sacrificing the animals’
Industrial farming is a huge waste of natural resources. We use too much energy just to produce the food; per capita, the U.S. uses more energy for food production, processing, and distribution than Asia and Africa use for all activities combined” (145). Not only that, but the amount of water we use is ridiculous in comparison to other farms. Mason and Singer stated that “bread delivers roughly the same calorie count as hamburger beef for one-twelfth of the water usage” (237). This is not even including the loss of biodiversity and land that factory farming causes. The worst part is that, like I stated earlier, the output is not worth the input. Industrial farming is an ineffective way of feeding the population. More nutrients goes into growing and feeding the animals to our preferred mass than there are going into us, which is supposedly the whole point of eating meat, gaining nutrients that are “unavailable in plants.” Frances Lappé called this type institution a “protein factory in reverse – meaning that you
Agriculture has been around for hundreds of years. With its negative effects on humanity, agriculture has greatly affected the environment. Many archeologists believe that adoption of Agriculture was not an improvement but a disaster for humans in many ways. Jared Diamond, the author of the article called “The worst mistake in the history of the human race” argues that hunter-gatherers were better off than the farmers. In a way agriculture is believed to cause many problems for humans such as sexual inequality, deep class division, changed their diet which later led to poor health and diseases.
A United Nations report states that land used for animal agriculture, both for grazing and production of crops fed to livestock, takes up an astounding 30% of land on Earth. ("Meat Production Wastes Natural Resources") To meet the industry’s demands, over 260 million acres of forest in the U.S. have been cleared to grow grain fed to farm animals. ("Meat Production Wastes Natural Resources") With that in mind, the meat industry also dumps disease-causing pathogens through animal waste that pollutes water and forces the need for waste lagoons to be constructed, which are susceptible to leaking and flooding. ("Facts about Pollution from Livestock Farms”) Scientists say that about 14% of the world’s greenhouse gases are released by said agriculture industries, which is a growing concern for climate change and global warming. (Silverman) The meat industry uses one-third of all the fossil fuels consumed in the United States. (Moore) There is no question that farming animals has a negative effect on the environment and steps should be taken to mitigate air and water pollution risks and future deforestation. If animal agriculture was phased out, land used for animal grazing could be returned to forest land and some of it converted into fields for cultivating crops for humans. A global shift toward veganism, resulting in the elimination of the meat and animal agriculture industries, would protect the environment from various detrimental effects.
Factory farms; a place where meat is produced for human consumption, this definition only describes how the industry started. In most factory farms, government regulation is lacking. This is to the disadvantage of billions of animals affected by the dirty business. When piglets are born they are divided into breeding sows, and others solely for their meat. Thousands of sows spend their lives in crammed cages, undergo numerous forced impregnations, and become sick because of their cages are overflowing with feces. However this is only the beginning of the story. These same animals are fed food littered with growth hormones, glass, syringes, and are forced to cannibalistic ways being fed their young’s testicles. Animals in the farming industry face innumerous atrocities including pain filled slaughter, forced growth rates, and overcrowding for the sake of taste, however each of these problems must be solved by enforcing the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and by switching to sustainable and/or organic farming methods.
Factory farming should be banned. Can you imagine spending your whole life in a cage? This is the reality that animals face daily on a factory farm. Factory farming needs to be stopped. This should be a serious concern because animals from factory farming can harm human health, it also harms the environment and it is not an ethical way to treat the animals.
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.
There are many debates around the world about the topic of animal abuse. Animal abuse in the food industry has become a major problem due to the cruel treatment of animals. Most of the world's population might think that animal cruelty is only found in homes and on the street, but they forget about the other forms of animal abuse that affect the food industry. Large contributors to animal abuse are due to fishing methods, animal testing, and slaughterhouses. "Animals have always been a major part of our society in history and they have played huge roles in agriculture" (ASPCA). Factory farming is a system of confining chickens, pigs, and cattle under strictly controlled conditions. Slaughterhouses are places where animals are killed
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
Cruelty toward animals, huge economic problems, and major health concerns are just three reasons why factory farming should be banned worldwide. Many people argue that factory farming is the only way to meet growing demands for food in the world today. However, factory farming is just not necessary, especially when it comes down to killing innocent animals in order to feed people. A way to put an end to the factory farming system is by buying our food from smaller, sustainable farms. These businesses still aim to profit from their labor, but that’s not their only objective. (The Issues: Factory Farming, n.d.) They simply will not sacrifice the health of the land or the quality of food simply to make a few extra dollars.