With all the issues and misconducts occurring in the food industry in the United States, factory farming is the evil of all evils. Factory farming is an injustice so great, I needed two blogs to delve deep enough into the wrongdoings it causes. In my previous blog, I discussed the predominant issues with factory farming, including the maltreatment of animals, and health risks for humans. In this blog post, I wish to outline the ways in which factory farming is harmful to the environment, to workers and to animals alike. Factory Farming on the Environment
Factory farming is an issue that people easily turn a blind eye to because it is easily put out of sight and out of mind. Upon adapting a vegetarian lifestyle, due to my inability to support the factory farming industry by purchasing and consuming meat products, I heard many people question my choice, arguing that the animal was going to die either way, so why bother going vegetarian? This argument does not sit well with me, simply because factory farming negatively effects us all, not just the animals being raised and slaughter at our expense.
Factory farming negatively impacts the environment more so than any other practice on the planet. An astonishing fifty-five percent of all the water used in the United States alone goes towards factory farming in one way or another. (Only five percent of water used in the United States goes towards domestic use) In fact, it requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef alone and 1,000 gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk. How is this possible? Not only do animals like cows require much more water to stay alive, but all of the crops such as grains and corn that are grown to produce feed for animals being raised for slaughter, require water to grow and a lot of it at that.
More issues begin to surface when discussing the production of grain and feed for livestock raised on factory farms. The demand for meat is so high in the United States, with the county consuming billions of pounds of meat per year and the average person eating just over 270 pounds of meat per year. American Meat EatersThe United States consumes more meat in a year than any other country in the world. With the demand at large, factory farms and meat and poultry companies scramble to produce enough meat, and have started buying land in foreign territory to plant grains on to harvest feed for these animals. In doing so, factory farming is also the leading cause of deforestation. On top of this, meat and poultry companies desire labor as cheap as possible, so they pay native’s of these countries next to nothing to work on their crops.
The native and immigrant workers become a sort of indentured servant to these companies and the irony in this industry is that these workers are producing food for animals that are to be slaughtered for the pleasure of Americans, yet many of these workers may be included in the one billion people who are starving world wide. The amount of grain and corn being grown to feed animals in the factory farming industry is enough to end world hunger if it were being fed to the one billion people who are starving in the world instead.
The wrongdoings of factory farming far surpass the maltreatment of animals. Factory farming negatively effects animals, consumers, workers and the environment. Choosing to forgo eating meat or to lessen one’s consumption of meat products can make many positive impacts and lessen our footprint on the earth, while simultaneously saving animal lives.

Amongst all the issues in the food industry in the United States, one issue stands out as being the most inhumane and out of control; factory farming. This practice goes on in this country and has changed the food industry completely, yet many Americans are completely unaware that factory farms exist and even if they have heard the term before, do not know exactly what they practice nor how the animals being raised for slaughter are being treated. The definition of a factory farm as according to the ASPCA is as follows, “A factory farm is a large, industrial operation that raises large numbers of animals for food. Over 99% of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in factory farms, which focus on profit and efficiency at the expense of animal welfare.” So 99% of the meat we purchase are products of factory farms, but what does this mean in terms of quality of the product and the treatment of the animals? The facts are not reassuring, to say the least.
Factory farms have one goal and one goal only: to make money. In order to make as much money as possible, they aim to raise as many animals as possible to sell to companies producing animal food products. There is a huge demand for meat products in the United States between restaurants and grocery stores. With so much demand, and factory farms aiming for as much production as possible, this results in animals being squeezed in huge warehouses with little to no room to move and no access to the outdoors. Some animals are kept in cages, in windowless warehouses where there are no windows are sunlight. WearhouseThis deprives these animals of all natural experiences that they would have otherwise been exposed to. These huge warehouse settings filled with animals being raised for slaughter are breeding grounds for bacteria and disease.
Animals being raised on factory farms do not look like the typical chicken, cow or pig that we can all picture in our minds. They are genetically altered to produce more meat for the industry. For example, there have been instances or factory farmed chickens whose bodies have grown too big for their legs to support. The result is the early death from starvation because they are unable to walk to access the (unsatisfactory) food and water they are provided.
Not only are factory farms concerning for the well being of animals, but they are also unsanitary for humans consuming the animal products as well. Animals raised in factory farms are pumped with antibiotics to keep them from contracting bacteria, but the bacteria only continue to adapt forms which leads to E.Coli and salmonella.
Overall, this is just one more example of the flaws in the United States food industry. Although there are some laws in place to regulate factory farms, they are not enforced and factory farms have lead to the near extinction of local farms with animals being raised under humane circumstances. Farming Laws

http://www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty/factory-farms

Factory Farming: Misery for Animals