Factory Farms : An Essential Part Of Our Everyday Diets

Our nation’s industrial farming has become more than just feeding people; it has become a way for the food industry to make more money as human population continues to grow. Jonathan Safran Foer in his book Eating Animals, illustrates the effects factory farming has had on animals meant for human consumption. Furthermore, Foer asks many questions to the reader on what will it take for us to change our ways before we say enough is enough. The questions individuals need to be asking themselves are: how do we deal with the problem of factory farming, and what can people do to help solve these issues? Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, also illustrates the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry as well as Bernard Rollin and Robert Desch in their article “Farm Factories”, both demonstrate what is wrong today with factory farming. Foer gives such examples of employees who work in slaughterhouses giving accounts of what goes on in the kill floors, and stories of employees who have witnessed thousands and thousands of cows going through the slaughter process alive (Animals 231). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, both address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only how people eat, but also the negative effects our climate endures as a result of factory farming as illustrated by Anna Lappe in “The Climate Crisis at the End

Factory Farming is an increasing industry in the United States. These large farms, which evidently appear to be more like slaughterhouses than the typical farms a person can imagine are located throughout the United States. These factory farms contain animals ranging from chickens, sheep, goats, cows, turkeys, and pigs, they also contain dairy products. The conditions for the animals and the employees of these factory farms are inhumane and vile. Life behind the walls of the factory farm is both unsanitary for the animals and the employees. Employees are forced to endure long hours and poor treatment. Animals in these conditions withstand living in cages and are forced to live in uninhabitable ways.

Factory farming has many flaws in the system, animal abuse is one that is usually over looked by owners of these farms. Many works while on this farm are exposed to the cruelty that the animals go through but often can do very little to change it. “Factory farms pack animals into spaces so tight that most can barely move. Many have no access to the outdoors, spending their lives on open warehouse floors, or housed in cages or pens.” (aspca) Without the room to engage in natural behaviors, animals become exposed to severe physical and mental distress. Many animals become trampled to death and never experience the proper life

Factory farming is an efficient and profitable way to make and sell meat. But there are a myriad of consequences to this system. Factory farms do whatever they can to be cost-efficient. This leads to a waste of energy, harmful effects on the environment, cruel animal treatment, and negative effects on human health, and therefore, factory farming should be abolished.

Throughout the years of society our views on factory farming have drastically changed. Many people used to think that our biggest problem with factory farming was how we would mutilate and torture innocent animals. Animals would be put in a situation where they would be force fed, and sometimes beaten by humans, the unthinkable has already happened and now we have to think about the long term effects of Factory Farming. However, as significant as the ethical argument is, people are also ignoring the fact of it being so bad for your body. Cancer, H1N1, and  Avian Flu are the main health problems due to Factory Farming. On top of that we have 3 million people getting diagnosed with obesity from all the antibiotics there putting in from the the meat. The amount of people it is affecting is outstanding, not only for the meat but the factory farming also affecting our water. The thing that we thought that was the safest for our bodies in the one thing we have to worry about most, for our generation to the next this is a issue we can’t ignore.

Even though higher yields are met for demand and human consumption, factory farming is cruel to animals due to the fact animals are often subject to harsh living conditions, more susceptible to diseases and injuries and are treated inhumanely during the slaughtering process. Unfortunately, with an increase in human population worldwide, the strain on farmers to meet the demand increases as well. This in turn causes more animals to be subject to this cruelty.

Food manufacturers in America claim that Factory Farming is a much cheaper way of processing meat and other food items where they are able to increase their margins as well as provide the consumers with cheaper food. However, current research on the effects of factory farming suggests that the method is one of the best examples of animal cruelty (Park). “The conditions that the animals

Factory farming has negative effects on animals because of the poor conditions that they are raised in. In these industrial operations animals are not given proper care or allowed to have basic fundamental social interactions. Animals are kept in crowded cages for a large portion of their life and females are either pregnant, giving birth, or being killed. In one Sow Farm in Winnipeg, undercover reporters filmed a documentary about the lives of the animals on the farm. One worker said “ “The conditions are horrible,” he told W5 in an interview.

I do not agree with the way food is produced in factory farms. Factory farms have been the cause of several deaths. Unsanitary conditions on farms have spread disease and sickness such as E. Coli. I believe that consumers should be fully aware of what they are eating, and the physical abuse that the animals are undergoing. These animals are being pumped with hormones, stuck in dark and cramped spaces, and are tossed around like their lives don’t have a meaning. Animals should be treated with respect; animals are the one that provide nutrition for us. In return, these animals are not respected, but are treated as a meal.

“Recognize meat for what it really is: the antibiotic- and pesticide- laden corpse of a tortured animal.” says Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder of (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) PETA and animal activist. Factory farming should be banned or demolished thoroughly due to more harm than good that is being presented worldwide. Animal brutality, which can be found constantly and excessively throughout factory farms, is a deleterious act involving the animals and a diabolic act regarding human morals. The antic actions that proceed have an effect on both humans and the environment, as well as the unethical, inhumane treatment and the atrocious sufferings of animals. Besides factory farms offering a copious amount of cheaper food, factory farming is a detrimental agricultural practice to both humans and the environment. The way we receive our food is inhumane and unhealthy to humans and the environment, thus factory farms should be banned.

Animals in the factory farms are commonly infected with a number of pathogens capable of causing food related illness and death that are to consumers in the flesh itself. Animals who are raised for food are denied their most basic needs and suffer both physical and psychological disorders as results. Factory farming confine animals by the thousands in massive warehouses, treating them like production units. Millions are packed in cages and creates so tightly that they can’t walk, turn around, or

Factory Farming and its Effects on our Health, the Environment, and the Welfare of Animals

ASPCA.org: A factory farm is a large, industrial operation that raises large numbers of animals for food. [They] focus on profit and efficiency at the expense of animal welfare.

A factory farm is a large, industrial operation. It raises large numbers of animals for food. About nine billion animals live in factory farms to live a miserable existence. Newborns torn from their mom days after being born. Sometimes even hours. They are then transported and kept in small cages. Or their is life in cramped and overcrowded pens. Males in egg farms are not valuable. Tens of thousands of them are into the trash because their meat is unsuitable. They are also ground alive into feed for other animals. Male calves of dairy cows eat liquid and iron deficient diets. They are in crates for their lives that keep them as immobile as possible. This is to keep their muscles weak and tender. Most of these animals at these farms are indoors. Few are able to live happy lives. Because of this they are unable to fulfill their instinctual urges. They become psychotic, neurotic and have repetitive behaviors. Many become cannibalistic. The animals are also give a consistent regimen of antibiotics and growth hormones. To keep disease and death away. “Factory farming and non-intensive family farms animals could have surgical modifications such as beak, toe, tail removal, ear tagging and clipping, teeth removal, branding, dehorning, castration and ovary removal” (QUOTE). Due to the high cost of anesthesia this is all performed without it. During transportation to the slaughterhouse many animals die. Due to starvation or freezing to death. The animals who are unable to walk are "downers" (QUOTE) and die in the yard. Animals with fur die in the wild. Or they live in small cages and fed each other's remains. They are then killed by anal electrocution so their pelts are not marred. Factory farming is immoral and has turned many people to vegetarianism.

The factory farming industry strives to maximize output while minimizing costs—always at the animals’ 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: Misery for Animals).