Factory Farming Essay

Factory farming has plenty of devastating consequences, but it’s only fair to acknowledge that it has benefited our pocketbooks. When President Herbert Hoover dreamed of putting “a chicken in every pot,” chicken was a luxury dish more expensive than beef. In 1930, whole dressed chicken retailed for $6.48 a pound in today’s currency, according to the National Chicken Council. By last year, partly because of Tyson, chicken retailed for an average price of $1.57 per pound — much less than

Factory farming is a practice that is used to keep up and sustain the supply and demand for different types of animal meat. A poultry factory farm that will be discussed is Perdue Farms. Perdue Farms is established and operated in the United States and has a processing facility where they raise and slaughter chickens. Perdue Farms is meeting the needs of the consumers by supplying and mass producing poultry for consumption. One may view this of being a success by having a well-established, profitable business that is fulfilling their responsibilities to the consumers. While that may be true, they are not fulfilling their ethical responsibility to the animals. These animals are in close quarters where they are nested in urine and feces. There can even be instances where they will be sitting on or near deceased chickens until their cage is chosen for slaughter. Since these animals are massively produced the use of hormones and antibiotics are used to sustain life and growth. On top of the poor, dirty living conditions these animals are also giving additives that will eventually make it to the consumer. The process has an impact on those employed by the corporation and those who purchase products from them.

In the paper titled “Factory Farming: The Truth about the Poultry Industry” by Jessica Stopa, she informs readers about the malpractices of chicken livestock in the food industry in comparison to how traditional agriculture practices were previously before the industrialization age. Her paper was intended to speak to American food consumers and bring to light or inform about the severity of industrialized farming practices. The writing was prompted by one of Ms. Stopa’s english classes and the intention of this work is to rhetorically analyze her credentials. She incorporates a heavy amount of logos into her work to backup her own logic, but also includes bits of pathos about the treatment of chicken and ethos by referring a figure who operates a local farm.

In my paper, I will present the argument Norcross gives on why factory farming is wrong. I will then express why I disagree with the steps leading to Norcross’ conclusion, factory farming is wrong. In Norcross’ argument, he provides us with an analogy about a man named Fred who has to torture puppies in order to taste chocolate. Norcross believes this analogy is representative of factory farming. I disagree with Norcross analogy because I do not think his analogy is an accurate representation of factory farming, and it does not help support his argument. His analogy effects one person, whereas factory farming effects millions. I agree with the segment of Norcross’ argument that says what Fred was doing to the puppies was wrong.

“Chicken’s is kept in tightly packed sheds, unable even to spread their wings. Rapid weight gain, caused by overfeeding during the chickens' six-week lifespan, leads to higher occurrences of shattered bones and heart failure. (Thomas, Edward M. "Playing Chicken at the Wto: Defending an Animal Welfare-Based Trade Restriction under Gatt's Moral Exception." P. 606)

Farmers are no longer in charge of the animals and the power now lies in the hands of the major corporations. Starting in 1985, many farms were shut down and overly concentrated animal feeding operations (COAFD), or factory farms, took over. This gave the major corporations leverage to take control over the meat packing industry by buying out the factory farms. The Factory Farm’s goals are to produce as much as they can, as fast as they can, with as little space as possible. For example, Factory Farmed meat chickens are stuffed by the thousands into small, dark, dirty sheds where there is no daylight or fresh air.

Chickens in the United States that are raised for meat are given antibiotics increase is size at such an alarming rate their bodies collapse under the stress. “ To put this growth rate into perspective, the University of Arkansas reports that if humans grew as fast as today’s chickens, we’d weight 349 pounds by our second birthday.” (Weber)When I look around at the state of our children, it’s hard to deny their victimization to the hormones ingested by theses animals. The reason behind the used of hormones is to allow the chickens, pigs and cows to grow at a faster pace, which shortens the time from birth to slaughter. Even though antibiotics are used in factory farming, this does not always prevent the spread of diseases, such as E. Coli and Salmonella because of the unsanitary handling practices. The space provide for chickens raised for meat is often filled with dust and fecal matter; these impurities can be inhaled or absorbed through skin of the chicken during the killing process leading to E. Coli contamination. “Scientific studies and government records suggest that

Fast food restaurants rely heavily on factory farms which pose problems to the environment, animals, and ultimately, the consumers and people of the area. Due to the high demand for animal products, about 10 billion animals a year are subject to cruelty on these farms (“Pollution (Water, Air, Chemicals)”). Animals are crowded into cages and crates where they are to be slaughtered carelessly. They are filled with antibiotics and artificial growth hormones that not only hurt the animals but the environment and consumers who end up eating or drinking the products that are taken from the animals. On top of human consumption, 75% of the antibiotics aren’t even consumed by the animals and end up in their urine and manure (“Factory Farming and the Environment”). If the harmful manure wasn’t enough, factory farms produce about one million tons of manure a day (“Factory Farming and the Environment”). Farmers take this abundance of manure and spread what they can over land and dispose of the rest. The land can’t absorb all that it's given and this manure, along with the manure that was disposed of, can leak into water sources, thus polluting the water. When these toxic substances pollute water sources, it can enter major bodies of water and begin to kill aquatic life (Geer). The manure from the animals also emits harmful gases into the atmosphere which has led to air pollution

Farmers who are contracted with these corporations are raising chickens in coops with no windows, no room to move they are being raised in half the time due to growth hormones. Scientists have changed the chicken’s bodies to have bigger breasts. These animals barely exist to produce food for disengaged and uninformed people.

The most consumed food in America is poultry. Sanderson Farms is a family-owned company. It is also one of the third largest poultry producers in the United States. The mission of the company is to provide customers with high-quality food products and services. Although the company has a clean slate to the public eye; research studies show them having a darker side.

To accurately emphasize how stressful factory farms are on the animals being confined and raised in them from birth, chickens are the most abused due to their size and how fragile they are. From the moment they hatch, they are more commonly known by the industry as “broilers”. These chickens are genetically manipulated to grow four times faster than the average due to selective breeding, antibiotics, steroids, and overfeeding; from hatchlings to over-weight, adult-sized chickens in only a short five to seven weeks versus a full natural growth period of twenty-one weeks. Due to these manipulations, there are severe consequences for the chickens.

Most of America's food comes from large, industrial farms. These farms can produce an abundance of food very inexpensively through modern methods which include growing huge amounts of single crops, using heavy farming equipment that minimizes human work, and using pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers.

Vegans often cut out animal products due to the pain and suffering of the animals, as well as meat-related diseases. Chickens in facilities frequently die from antibiotic resistance and are trampled to death. For example, contract farmer Carole Morison admits that her chicken farm is unsafe and unsanitary (Food, Inc.). Some farmers realize the cruelty they cause to animals, yet they cannot afford the fix the problem. In addition to chickens, cows are also being abused. These cattle are forced to stand in their own feces causing

This source is a 2014 article “The High Cost of Cheap Chicken” by the CR Investigates Consumers Union. The CR Investigator reports the issues of the United State poultry companies’ regulations and health safety in packaged chickens. The article states the major’s issue on bacterial contamination of packaged chickens and the issue of antibiotic-resistant bacteria of organic chicken. The CR Investigator reports that “48 million people fall sick every year from eating food tainted with salmonella, campylobacter, E-Coli, and other contaminants.” This scholarly article reports details and reliable source from USDA and a professor of University of Minnesota. I will use this article to help me support the major issue of packaged chicken and organic chicken.

Industrial farm animal welfare is horrendous, only two federal laws protect these animals which proves this true. Firstly, the law regarding trucking animals states that every 28 hours they are unloaded from the truck for rest, water and food. Trucks aren’t required to be cleaned during this rest period. Meaning the livestock has to stand in feces during travel. Secondly, livestock be quickly rendered insensible to pain before being slaughtered. These laws aren’t actively enforced leading to increased animal cruelty. In addition to the surprising lack of empathy for these animals, poultry is exempt from both laws.