Factory Farming: An Overview.

Introduction

Factory farming, also known as industrial livestock production, is a term often used to describe intensive modern agricultural practices meant to maximize output of animal products. In particular, it refers to large-scale, industrialized operations with dense concentrations of livestock, usually run by globalized companies. Many of the facilities popularly called factory farms are officially classified by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as "concentrated animal feeding operations" (CAFOs).

Factory farming enables the scale of food production that has come to be expected in Western society, and the industry grew steadily through the late twentieth century and into the twenty-first. By the 2020s, large-scale industrial farms supplied approximately 80 percent of the poultry, beef, and pork consumed in the United States. Aquaculture supplied about 40 percent of the nation's fish. To keep up with demand, roughly ten billion animals are slaughtered annually. Proponents of industrial agriculture suggest that the efficiencies of mass production allow the convenient and relatively affordable access to food that sustains modern society.

While factory farming has become an integral part of the global economy, it has also drawn much controversy. Animal-welfare groups have been among the most vocal opponents of CAFOs, sharply criticizing the confinement of livestock in small spaces and many other practices as unethical. Public health experts have also raised concerns that factory farming can increase the risk of disease outbreaks that can spread to humans, such as influenza, Escherichia coli (E. coli), and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE; better known as "mad cow disease"). Furthermore, scientists have pointed to the overuse of antibiotics in industrial livestock as a key contributor to antibiotic resistance, which poses a threat to both animals and people. Critics of factory farming also call out the environmental impacts of CAFOs, from water pollution by animal manure and chemicals to methane emissions that contribute to global warming.

Additional concerns about factory farms include the health and welfare of employees. Some agribusiness corporations have been accused of unethical labor practices, such as child labor and anti-union activity. Certain jobs may be held by undocumented immigrants who are unlikely to speak out against substandard working conditions for fear of reprisal. Observers have also decried other economic impacts of factory farming, such as the loss of traditional farm jobs to automation, the decline of small independent farms, and the massive profits reaped by agribusiness executives.

Understanding the Discussion

Battery cages: Cages used to confine poultry that can be stacked in rows and columns. Most battery cages measure between forty-eight and sixty-eight square inches and are too small for birds to spread their wings.

Certified humane: A label indicating that in addition to meeting the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) certified organic standards, meat or eggs offered for sale also come from free-range animals that have been provided with fresh air, sunlight, exercise, and a healthy diet.

Certified organic: A USDA label indicating that meat or eggs offered for sale have not been irradiated and are derived from animals that have not been given antibiotics, hormones, or feed sprayed with pesticides. This designation does not necessarily mean that the animal was grass fed or free-range.

Concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO): A type of factory farm in which thousands of animals are confined in small pens or cages until they are "harvested." The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspects CAFOs over specific size thresholds for different types of livestock.

Factory farming: The industrial, large-scale production of agricultural products, especially animal products; also called "intensive farming." Many factory farms perform all operations from breeding to processing.

Free-range: A method of farming in which livestock are not confined to cages but are permitted to roam freely. If provided with outdoor access, they gain fresh air, sunlight, and often natural food. The USDA certifies whether meat is "free-range"; to be certified, cattle and hogs must eat grass and live outdoors.

Gestation crates: Cages in which sows are confined during their four-month-long gestation period. When birth is imminent, the sows are moved to "farrowing crates," where they are confined along with their piglets for three weeks. The sows are then returned to the gestation crates and artificially impregnated to begin the cycle again. Gestation crates are too small for pigs to turn around or stretch.

Lagoons: In the context of agriculture, large pits dug in the ground to accommodate effluent (manure and urine) produced by livestock.

Sustainable agriculture: Farming that does not have a detrimental long-term effect on the environment.

History

The roots of contemporary factory farming methods can be traced to the Industrial Revolution. Farm machinery, including the threshing machine and the combine, allowed for the mass production of the grains that now constitute most of a farm animal's diet. The advent of the railroad and refrigerated cars opened new markets for milk, beef, eggs, and other farm products. Electricity allowed for mechanized feeding, watering, ventilation systems, and assembly lines for egg collection and meat processing. From their crude beginnings in the late nineteenth century, milking machines evolved into massive facilities that can milk hundreds of cows per hour.

Twentieth-century advancements included the discovery of vitamins, now commonly added to processed feed. Improved fertilizers and pesticides helped increase the production of grains. Artificial insemination techniques streamlined breeding, helping to establish a year-round supply of beef and pork. Incubators allowed for breeding of poultry. Antibiotics helped reduce outbreaks of disease, countering one of the key challenges posed by dense concentrations of animals.

The post–World War II baby boom and increased affluence in the United States created more demand for meat. Searching for ways to keep up with demand while yielding higher profits, farmers began squeezing in more animals, often on shrinking farm acreage. Some had to choose between expansion and bankruptcy. Mergers became common as large corporations pursued economies of scale and integration to increase profits. Out of this climate, a handful of so-called agribusiness companies, such as Smithfield Foods, Christensen Farms, and Tyson Foods, began to dominate the industry, easily outcompeting smaller, independent farms.

The rapidly increasing scale of farming operations soon began to have an array of other impacts beyond the availability and price of food. Incidents in which manure lagoons contaminated local water supplies became more common and more serious. In 1972, the Clean Water Act authorized the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), a program issuing permits to factory farms. The act also established regulations for preventing manure-contaminated wastewater from flowing into streams, rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. Four years later, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began annual inspections of CAFOs. Despite such regulations, however, dozens of lawsuits continued to implicate factory farms in polluting water systems.

The trend toward ever-larger industrialized farming operations continued through the late twentieth century. By the 1990s, ongoing environmental concerns were joined by growing public attention to issues of both human health and animal welfare regarding factory farms. Animal rights organizations such as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) helped popularize the term "factory farming" to draw attention to practices they considered inhumane, particularly at CAFOs. Meanwhile, scientific research highlighted further potential negative consequences of factory farming for humans, such as outbreaks of new animal-borne or food-borne diseases. Consumer advocates pushed for greater transparency and regulated labeling in food production so that people could make more informed purchasing decisions.

In response, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) initiated the "certified organic" labeling program. Farmers and other stakeholders in the industry also implemented the "certified humane raised and handled" program, which identifies meat and dairy products that both meet the USDA's organic standards and come from animals that were provided with fresh air, sunshine, exercise, and a healthy, natural diet. In 2003, the newly organized American Grassfed Association began to work with the USDA to implement a labeling program for meat coming from cows and pigs raised outdoors in a pasture. Supporters of grass-based diets cited higher amounts of protein, fiber, vitamins A and E, and omega-3 fatty acids than in feed consisting mostly of corn and soybeans. A grass diet is also thought to help animals fight off harmful bacteria, such as E. coli.

While media coverage of factory farming typically focused on conditions for animals such as cattle, pigs, and poultry, industrial agriculture also took hold elsewhere. Notably, aquaculture, or "fish farming," of salmon, catfish, shrimp, and other fish and shellfish increased substantially during the 1980s and 1990s in response to increased demand for seafood at a time when overfishing began to threaten many commercial species. Yet while aquaculture can help prevent overfishing, it comes with its own negative impacts. Environmentalists cite byproducts of fish farms that are built in the ocean or along coastlines as a major source of marine pollution. Human health concerns are related to the prevalence of disease among confined fish and the use of antibiotics and other additives, including food coloring, which has been used to make salmon bred in captivity look more appetizing. There is also a danger to wild fish populations when farmed fish escape their pens.

Factory Farming Today

Factory farming remains prevalent in the twenty-first century, driven by continued high demand for inexpensive food. The trend toward consolidation also continued in agribusiness, with notable mergers such as that of the nation's second- and third-largest poultry suppliers, Pilgrim's Pride Corporation and Gold Kist, in 2006. Indeed, the size of the largest CAFOs increased steadily, leading some observers to identify them as "mega factory farms." For example, by the early 2020s it was reported that over three-quarters of chickens raised in the US were in facilities processing over 500,000 animals each year. This trend was directly tied to overall growth in production to meet demand. The USDA Census of Agriculture noted that the nation's food system increased from 5.2 billion animals in 1987 to more than 10 billion in 2022.

Even amid such growth, activism by animal welfare groups, environmentalists, and others has continued to drive wider public attention to factory farming and the various concerns surrounding it. As attitudes shifted, there were growing calls for stricter regulation of the industry. With little federal law in place concerning the welfare of food animals, some states began to pass their own specific protections. The most common legislation in this vein included bans or restrictions on the use of confinement methods such as gestation crates, veal crates, or cages for egg-laying hens. In the 2010s and 2020s, a few states also completely banned the sale of products from factory farms using such confinement methods, aiming to discourage the practice even in farms in other states.

However, animal welfare activism, and especially whistleblowing on alleged unethical practices at factory farms, also generated backlash. Several states passed or considered so-called "ag-gag" laws, which institute harsh penalties for undercover investigative activities at agriculture facilities. These laws proved controversial, and in a few cases were challenged in court and ultimately deemed unconstitutional. Agricultural industry groups also resisted regulation and reform in other ways. For example, they pushed back on the EPA's attempt to count the number of factory farms in the nation, arguing such data could leave businesses vulnerable to ecoterrorism and constituted an invasion of privacy.

At the federal level, regulation of factory farms largely focused on environmental and public health concerns rather than animal welfare. As such, efforts varied considerably according to the political climate. Under the administration of President Barack Obama, the EPA took steps meant to better enforce clean water laws, and in 2010 officials promised to pursue the implementation of new transparency rules intended to support fair competition in agriculture. In contrast, under President Donald Trump, many environmental regulations were weakened, giving factory farms more leeway to operate. Notably, livestock companies were exempted from rules requiring most industries to report major emissions of hazardous materials. Federal policy shifted back toward stricter environmental and labor controls under President Joe Biden. However, the government continued to decline to set official guidelines for measuring emissions from manure, which would allow factory farms to come under the purview of the Clean Air Act. Yet while critics claimed the industry was under-regulated and prone to abuses, proponents of factory farming frequently noted such systems simply use modern technology and methods to produce the amounts of food demanded by the public.

These essays and any opinions, information, or representations contained therein are the creation of the particular author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of EBSCO Information Services.

Bibliography

Abrams, Lindsay. "Factory Farming Is Killing the Planet: Why the Meat Industry's Future Needs to Look More Like Its Past." Salon.com, 25 July 2015, www.salon.com/2015/07/25/factory%5Ffarming%5Fis%5Fkilling%5Fthe%5Fplanet%5Fwhy%5Fthe%5Fmeat%5Findustrys%5Ffuture%5Fneeds%5Fto%5Flook%5Fmore%5Flike%5Fits%5Fpast/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

"Ag Gag: Safeguarding Industry Secrets by Punishing the Messenger." Food Integrity Campaign, 2015, www.foodwhistleblower.org/campaign/ag-gag/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

Bolotnikova, Marina, and Kenny Torrella. "9 Charts That Show US Factory Farming Is Even Bigger Than You Realize." Vox, www.vox.com/future-perfect/24079424/factory-farming-facts-meat-usda-agriculture-census. Accessed 1 Apr. 2024.

"Cage-Free vs. Battery-Cage Eggs." The Humane Society of the United States, 7 Apr. 2015, www.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement%5Ffarm/facts/cage-free%5Fvs%5Fbattery-cage.html. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

Casa, Kathryn. "The Changing Face of Farming in America." National Catholic Reporter, 12 Feb. 1999, p. 13. Points of View Reference Center, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=1554767&site=pov-live. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

Colleran, Brian. "Think Before You Eat: The Widespread Effects of Factory-Farmed Meat." E: The Environmental Magazine, July–Aug. 2008, pp. 30–31. Points of View Reference Center, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=32800546&site=pov-live. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

Flesher, John. "Factory Farms Provide Abundant Food, But Environment Suffers." AP, 6 Feb. 2020, apnews.com/85466c302a7436070b913aeee071b16a. Accessed 22 May 2020.

Guilford, Gwynn. "The New Frontier for Big Agriculture Is Aquaculture." Quartz, 17 Aug. 2015, qz.com/481025/the-new-frontier-for-big-agriculture-is-aquaculture/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

Hollenbeck, James E. "Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) as Potential Incubators for Influenza Outbreaks." Trakia Journal of Sciences, vol. 11, no. 2, 2013, pp. 205–9. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=90473486&site=ehost-live. Accessed 13 Nov. 2015.

"Industrial Livestock Production." Sustainable Table, GRACE Communications Foundation, 2015, www.sustainabletable.org/859/industrial-livestock-production. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

Kirby, David. "Obama on Factory Farming: Something to Crow About." Washington Post, 26 Mar. 2010, views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/guestinsights/2010/03/factory-farm-leadership.html. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

Kolbe, Emily A. "'Won't You Be My Neighbor?': Living with Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations." Iowa Law Review, vol. 99, no. 1, 2013, pp. 415–43. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=91947019&site=ehost-live. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

McCarthy, Colman. "Infiltrators Expose the Cruelty of Meat." National Catholic Reporter, 27 Apr. 2012, p. 17. Points of View Reference Center, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=74692088&site=pov-live. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

Nierenberg, Danielle. "The Commercialization of Farming: Producing Meat for a Hungry World." USA Today, Jan. 2004, pp. 22–24. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=11835383&site=ehost-live. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

Thomas, Mary Ann. "Factory Farming Backlash Spurs More Choice—and a Little Chaos." Christian Science Monitor, 14 Sept. 2013. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=90280105&site=ehost-live. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

Union of Concerned Scientists. CAFOs Uncovered: The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations. By Doug Gurian-Sherman. Cambridge: UCS, 2008, www.ucsusa.org/food%5Fand%5Fagriculture/our-failing-food-system/industrial-agriculture/cafos-uncovered.html. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.

Vogt, Willie. "Regulations Affect Farms in Variety of Ways." Southwest Farm Press, 19 Sept. 2013, p. 14. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=90463486&site=ehost-live. Accessed 6 Nov. 2015.