The Pros And Cons Of Animal Agriculture

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

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.

Today, the food industry has not just altered the American diet, but it has also had a negative effect within the labor sector as well as the animals meant for consumption and the lack of government oversight. Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, and Jonathan Foer in Eating Animals, illustrate the mistreatment of labor workers as well as the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry. 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 (231). Eating meat does not have to be so inhumane for example, Foer quotes Frank Reese, who does not permit inhumane practices on his ranch that are cruel, and Reese believes that there are other ways of having a sustainable humane animal agriculture instead of the methods of the large corporate meat industry (238). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only what people eat, but how the government has neglected the issues of the wellbeing of labor workers and the animals that are processed for consumption.

Society today is more focused on the fast production of food, they don't take the time to notice what the production of their food is doing to animals.

Berry talks about how consumers should know where the food they eat comes from and should learn to adapt in producing their own food. His main idea is “eat responsibly” (47). Food is not considered by farming

A poll conducted by the ASPCA revealed that 94% of Americans believe that production animals, specifically those raised for food, deserve to live a comfortable life free of cruelty and neglect. Despite this belief, many factory farm animals are abused and neglected in such ways that, if witnessed by consumers, would not be accepted. Over 99% of the United State’s farm animals live on factory farms that use them for means of profit, many of them violating the Animal Welfare Act and other laws put in place to protect the humane treatment of animals (ASPCA). This abuse is not limited to any specific type of farm animal. Although different animals are used for different purposes, they all share a common suffering and a need for humane care.

Today was James and Luke’s birthday. They have the same birthday, but James turned seven and Luke turned four. For James’ birthday he got two cows. He named them Sam and Anna. They are both girls and are already getting along with Diana, Peter, and Noah. Diana is our other cow, Peter is one of our oxen that we already had, and Noah was the ox that Luke got for his birthday today. We fear that the animals will have a hard time on the trail. It will be a long walk, and hope that nothing bad will happen to them. Our cows and oxen are apart of our family and we care about

Most of the animals under this condition will develop illnesses, abnormalities, go insane, or die before they make it to the slaughterhouse (Alfie, 2010). In the U.S., over 10 billion animals are raised and killed each year for food about 9 billion chickens, 250 million turkeys, 100 million pigs, 35 million cows. The vast majority of these are not raised on small family farms but, rather, in the major agricultural facilities called?factory farms, also known as Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The idea of factory farming originated in the 1920s with the discovery of vitamins A and D. When mixed with feed; farm animals were capable of growing without sunlight or exercise, which enabled them to be raised more efficiently in barns throughout the year (Fieser, 2015). Factory farming is a form of capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system that is privately controlled by owners for profit and self-interest (Fieser, 2015). Many philosophers have proposed the principle of equal consideration of interests, in some form or other, as a primary moral value; but, we shall see in more element shortly, not many of them have documented that this principle applies to members of other species as well as to our own. (Singer, 1989). In today society the consumer is much more interested in knowing how the chickens are raised, what they?ve been eating

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.

To eat or not to eat, is that really the question? One devoted rancher/essayist, Linda Hasselstrom, confronts this very idea in her essay from the book, 80 Readings for Composition. The piece was written in 1991, titled “The Cow versus the Animal Rights Activist,” during a time when ranchers and the meat industry were under fire by both animal activists for the inhumane treatment of cattle and by environmentalists for the immense amounts of energy waste and pollution. Hasselstrom uses pertinent substance, though sometimes bias, to shed light on the misconceptions about ranchers and their place in the cattle industry. She aims to unite the concerns of the activists on the side of the ranchers so they can work together

Turning a blind eye to troubling realities is no new concept to western culture. The materialism, capitalism, and industrialization that is ever so prevalent in today’s “civilized” society has contributed to a separation between consumer and source; a veil of consumeristic ignorance. In agriculture, this is especially true. Similar to how the Nazis dehumanized the Jews, western society has essentially disconnected all empathy between humans and certain forms of life, namely livestock, with the only real reason for doing so being human enjoyment of animal products. Humans have also managed to do the exact opposite with other types of animals, namely pets, by personifying animals and creating one-way emotional bonds.

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.

Have you ever wondered what you’re really eating, where the ground beef in your cheeseburger comes from, or if the animals are getting the same satisfaction and happiness that your hunger gets? Factory farming is the reason for these questions we ask ourselves. They say we should eat animal products that trace back to factory farms because they wouldn’t raise anything that’s not good for us in a “farm”. I say that you shouldn’t eat animal products from factory farms because of the corrupted conditions animals live in. They might object that factory farms is a better choice because you get more bang for your buck versus going to a farmers market and spending an arm and a leg for naturally raised produce.

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.”

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