Purpose And Benefits Of The Livestock Industry . Specific

The beef industry is an important asset to United States agriculture as a whole. Over a million agricultural entities benefited from the sales of cattle and calves in the year 2000. Gross totals from sales of cattle and calves in 2000 totaled $40.76 billion accounting of 21% of all agricultural receipts making the beef sector the largest single agricultural enterprise. Direct and indirect employment in or related to the production and processing of beef supports over 1.4 million full-time-equivalent jobs in the US as well. Cattle are produced in all 50 states and their economic impact contributes to nearly every county in the nation and they are a significant economic driver (Lawerance and Otto, 2000).

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

Although the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) was established by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to protect consumers, a number of unintended consequences have arisen that negatively impact producers. These include increased costs of feed, negative impacts of small and rural producers, limitations to meeting new demands and the voluntary nature of the VFD. This letter explores the VFD and identifies challenges with its current implementation that impact our rural and remote producers.

In the US today cattle are part of everyday culture. With more than 93 million cattle in the dairy and beef industry, and tens of thousands in the rodeo business, cattle are definitely a huge part. Lately, there has been many concerns with the bovine friends along with multiple misconceptions. Rodeos may look tough on animals, and todays society is not educated well enough on the beef and dairy industry. People don’t realize that these animals are happy, healthy, and very well cared for.

Most people do not take a second thought about where their food came from. Whether it be chicken, steak, or pork, the meat was most likely raised in a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). Hundreds to thousands of animals in horrid conditions from birth to slaughter at these factory farms. While damaging animals, CAFOs also damage the environment and the effects of these farms are worsening, with more farms resorting to these methods. Popular brands using these methods include global producers like Smithfield Foods and Tyson Foods. The United States Department of Agriculture defines a CAFO as an Animal Feeding Operation that houses “...more than 1000 animal units...” (nrcs.usda.gov). These “units” are later defined as “...an animal

Every year, an average American will consume approximately one hundred-twenty six pounds of meat. This meat can be traced back to factory farms where the animals are kept to be tortured to turn into a product for the appetite of humans. The terrible treatment these animals are forced to endure is the outcome of the greed and want for a faster production of their product. The industry of factory farming works to maximize the output of the meat while maintaining low costs,but will sadly always comes at the animals’ expense.

Over the last 10 years or so Americans have been at odds with themselves and other Americans regarding the treatment of food source animals. The term “factory farm” is being coined for method in which animals are being processed in the food system. I will be discussing what a factory farm is, who or what benefits from them, and finally at what cost? Factory Farms have become an institution in support of the American way life, regardless of what we think; they have advantages and disadvantages.

History has shown that once our ecology is disrupted and our natural resources are gone, we will start dying off. In order to avoid this fate, we must act now. Our next step to recovery will be with our livestock. I understand that human life carries more worth than that of livestock. However, we cannot succeed without our livestock. We must first restore the health of our livestock in order to prosper. We cannot afford to lose any more livestock and that starts now. We initially give the highest regard to our livestock. The livestock will not go without ample feeding and clean water. We have to restore our livestock population has in both health and numbers.

We do not take in consideration on where our meat comes from and how they treat the animals. People do not know how the process is from slaughtering a cow to the meat that you buy in your neighborhood market. In the book Foodopoly, Wenonah Hauter argues that there is a misrepresentation on what truly happens in the meatpacking industry, hog industry, the impact on small farmers, and how the working conditions are for the meat packing industry workers.

The author uses firsthand knowledge and personal experiences to find common ground with the opposition and turn the finger at the cattle industry instead. Furthermore, her down to earth style and descriptive language establishes her ethos and makes her argument more persuadable. Hasselstrom was successful, in spite of her bias, because she defined her principles, educated the uninformed, and unified the involved parties so solutions ways of thinking could

America is a nation of meat eaters, consuming up to 25.5 billion pounds of meat a year, there are approximately one million farms with livestock, and about 212,000 confine animals and are defined as animal feeding operations (AFOs) under current regulations (USEPA, 2012a) in the United States. In 2015 majority of the population in our country does not actually know where their meat comes from, we can just walk into our local super market and walk out with a plethora of meat products for a relatively cheap price. All of our meat products are nicely packaged with a nice, green, sunny farm right on the front of the packaging. Is that really what our farms look like now? Not exactly, if you went to the farm your animal came from you would walk

The movie “Food Inc.” is a documentary created to shed light on the topic of industrialized farming of crops and animals. The video shows many scenes that display the poor methods of industrialized farming as well as the harsh conditions the animals have to endure while they are being farmed. This video however also takes a political standpoint on the topic and expresses many opinions on the matter. The movie is also filled with recent facts and statistics on the industry and compares them to how the food business used to be. “Food Inc.” also provides first-hand accounts of how farmers are affected and the types of techniques that giant corporations are imposing.

Food inc. is a documentary on the horrors of the industrialized food industry of the United States. The documentary exemplifies the purely wretched nature of highly industrialized and subsidized farming practices that take place on CAFO’s (Confined animal feeding operations) that harm each one of us who doesn’t take the extra initiative to find alternatives. The documentary also exposes the enforced situations that big corporations place upon farmers big and small. Food inc. doesn’t give many solutions to these issues but it is meant to be paired with the documentary entitled “Fresh.”

One of my favorite things about agriculture is that every single person in the world relies on it for food. However, many people have false notions about the work farmers do and the treatment of animals. I would like to promote positive attitudes toward the industry. Through my experience showing heifers at a New York county fair,

In case you haven't noticed the agriculture industry has gotten a bad reputation in recent years. As anti-agriculture activists are leading the public to believe the industry is made up of uncaring, insensitive factory farmers and other agriculture workers are fighting an uphill battle to set the record straight. I can advocate for the agriculture industry by showing proper treatment of animals. With show animals I will show proper feeding, training and handling so they can show to the best of their abilities. With working animals, I will help them and care for them so they can continue to work for the agriculture industry and continue benefiting us. I can also advocate for the agricultural industry by representing agriculture in the best way possibly such as proper knowledge, respect and care for the