The Pros And Cons Of Food Production

Concentrated animal feeding operations have industrialized a once natural process. Designed as large-scale agricultural and livestock operations, CAFOs seek to maximize production of meat, dairy, and eggs through low cost and larger profit margins. CAFOs are defined as animal feeding operations that confine a certain number of animals to a small space for up to or over forty-five days. Vegetation is minimal and the waste must be controlled into a lagoon or separate water supply. Farmers find benefits in the technological innovations and advancements provided by these farming practices that increase efficiency in overall livestock production. However, the large-scale confinement and mechanization pose large environmental hazards and public

All around the world we use factory farming as our main source of packaging and transporting food. But do you know what happens in the factories and farming facilities? This large industrial operation houses animals raised for food. They treat them with hormones and antibiotics to prevent disease and maximize their growth for food output. Then transported to the factories where they are killed if animals and put on a conveyor belt to be processed by workers.

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.

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 take care of animals, and the animals take care of us.” (Rollin 212). The preceding phrase is a policy that American farmers in the old west lived their lives by. Modern farmers live do not live their lives anywhere near to this phrase because they own factory farms, and the whole reason for having a factory farm is to fit as many animals in a small space as possible in order to maximize profit. Factory Farms, or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) first appeared in the 1920s, right after Vitamins A and D, because if animals are given these vitamins in their diets, exercise and sunlight are not necessities for the animals to grow anymore (In Defense of Animals 1). The growing

Factory farming is the process of “employing abusive practices that maximize agribusiness profits at the expense of the environment, our communities, animal welfare, and even our health” (Factory Farming). These methods are used across the United States and have major impacts on not only those consuming the food but the environment as well. Some hold the position that this method is inhumane and should not be allowed. However, others argue that this process creates economically cheap food and allows food to be produced at a faster rate. Therefore, the factory farming industry can improve its conditions in all aspects if it is reformed to successfully satisfy the rights that the livestock deserve and

Factory farms have become an ingrained part of our society. They are depended on by people daily. However, it is not generally a fact people ponder often. A large portion of the average Americans food comes from factory farms. What individuals also do not realize is the damage these farms are doing to them daily. However, recently it has become a more prominent problem that many Americans and individuals around the world have started to recognize and raise concern about. Many are now considering this fact every day. Factory farms, specifically in the U.S. are a growing social problem that contributes to animal abuse, the deterioration of our environment, and damage to the local economy.

For many Americans, the term “factory farming” conjures up images of mistreated livestock crowded into undersized cages while force fed large amounts of antibiotics and growth hormones. Yet for others, greatly reduced prices on meat and other animal by products, such as eggs and milk, helping to keep costs of food down for their families’, springs to mind. Factory farming has managed to reduce costs of meat, poultry and by products, making it more accessible to our citizens by increasing rate of production and efficiency, while reducing the space utilized to farm livestock. However, the ability to increase production relies heavily on the use of large amounts of growth hormones and antibiotics in livestock,

Twenty decades ago, livestock farmers used to breed their animals in the traditional way where their farm animals were let loose over a large area of farm and allowed to reproduce naturally. Over recent years, a new system of rearing livestock has come into existence which is more popularly known as Factory Farming. Factory Farming makes use of extremely intensive procedures through the use of which poultry, cattle and other livestock are kept indoors under rigid controlled settings. Since this technique has gained much popularity into how food is being produced in America, it is also one of the most debated and controversial concepts. While it is true that using this modern method to produce meat and dairy one can expect greater productivity at a swifter rate, the question still remains- at what cost?


   The factory farming industry strives to maximize output while minimizing cost, always at the animals’ expense. The big corporations that run most factory farms have found that they can

Many individuals have seen or heard of the videos on the internet of various slaughterhouses across the country as well as the videos of factory farms and how their livestock are raised, along with Rachel Carson’s various books about the dangers of pesticides. Until the 1950’s, farming never used hormones to increase growth pace to achieve meatier animals. Factory farms and the mass production of animals have caused corporations to stop thinking about the quality of their foods, but the quantity and efficiency in which consumers receive it. Factory farm raised animals are produced to become our food and sold in stores, but they do not have to live in such poor, unhealthy conditions or live short lives full of pain. While factory farms are beneficial to the economy, ultimately they are harmful to the environment and the health of people and animals. Therefore we should find alternatives to factory farming.

An estimated fifty-six billion animals are slaughtered every year just for human consumption. The consumption of these animals is now redundant and wasteful because meat and dairy products are not necessary for the majority of human’s survival. Humans should stop eating animals and animal by-products because it is morally wrong, this is due to the fact that many of the animals humans consume can feel pain. Humans should stop eating other animals if it is not essential for their survival. In addition, the conditions that animals are subjected to in farms and slaughterhouses are harsh. Moreover, the amount of grain that is required to feed farmed animals is high and can be used to feed humans instead of animals that will inevitably be killed

Throughout history, new farming methods have popped up to keep up with the food demands of the growing United States population. Such farming methods strived to make food production cheaper and more efficient. Hence, the birth of the modern factory farm. Now, nearly two thirds of U.S. agricultural output is from three percent of its farms (“Factory”). Though factory farms have been very good for the efficiency of food-production, animals in the farms are often victims of mistreatment. By examining these different theories, one can form an educated stance on the economic side of factory farms.

There is a lot of pros and cons to mass production of food. Some is that it supplies jobs to lows income households, it is more economical, and that it is faster to produce food. But there are a lot of consequences that come with it; some of which are unsanitary work environments that are on the list of most dangers jobs in the world, and are inhuman towards animals. The main goal of mass food production companies is to produce a product that is easy and quick to make, and that these companies to produce a lot of food in a shortest amount of time, and in the most cost-efficient way possible. Food Inc. is definitely more or less a one-sided argument about why big food corporations are bad, but they do acknowledge some of the befits that do come with mass food production in a subtle way.