Factory Farming Part II

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) Screen Shot 2016-03-26 at 11.09.39 AM 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.

2 thoughts on “Factory Farming Part II

  1. okk5026

    Hello!

    I’ve never read your blog before, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover what the theme of your blog is and how passionate you are about it. I agree that factory farming in this country is detrimental in many ways. Our huge consumption of meat, as you wrote, leads to deforestation and the use of huge amounts of water and grain for comparatively little payoff. It also contributes to climate change, as domestic livestock like cows and sheep produce methane, a greenhouse gas. “Exporting” American/Western culture to other countries has also increased meat consumption in places like China, where meat has not traditionally made up a majority of a meal like it does here. I don’t like telling people what to do with their lives, but I agree that since factory farming and meat production has a lot of negative consequences, everyone who can should cut down on how much meat they eat. We even have health reasons for doing this: we don’t necessarily know what goes into the meat we eat, and the WHO announced last year that red and processed meats increase the risk of cancer. I really like that you’ve picked this topic, as it’s not one that most people, including college students, think about. It was very well-researched and well-written!

  2. ejs5652

    Wow! I did not know that this issue is so out of hand. The agricultural system in America is slightly disturbing. I would like to recommend you read Fast Food Nation! It is a book along similar lines as your blog, and there is also a documentary! We read excerpts of the book in English class as examples of strategic rhetoric. Overall, very informative and well thought-out post!

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