Factory Farming Efficient or Destructive?
Factory farms can rapidly and cheaply produce enormous amounts of food in a relatively small space.
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Factory farms cause massive pollution, produce fatty meat, foster unhealthy conditions among the animals which leads to excessive use of antiobiotics, and accept cruel and unnatural treatment of animals
Fast, Cheap, and Efficient
Side Score: 94
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Dangerous to environment/man
Side Score: 234
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Factory Farming has been around since 1947 and first started out in Britain, where it was started for the wealthiest people. It is the act of raising numerous amounts of livestock in order to turn a farm into a factory and create mass amounts of product to sell for a gross rate. There are many advantages that make this a key factor to economical outbursts. The first thing that is good about this is the fact that it’s cheap to use, with all the advances in technologies now a days, it’s easy and efficient, but also the cheapest way to farm because of how quickly in can produce food and save money. With the rate of making food, they are able to feed the larger cities and are able to cover more cities than ever before. Another thing to think about is the amount of employment that this has created, because of today’s economy, the factories that open up generate thousands of jobs for unfortunate unemployed people, for most ages older than 18, it’s easy and good paying. The last thing that is helpful and makes this industry key is the fact that factories invest in the cities or towns that they are located in. Anywhere where there is a factory farm located, that town gets a net amount of pay from the profit that the company makes, it comes in small amounts, but as the years go on this profit can really add up and make a difference in the communities. This is why I think that Factory Farming is very important and a strong factor in the Industry Side: Fast, Cheap, and Efficient
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Survival of the fittest is a huge factor of evolution, without it, the human race would be able to live as good as we have, in fact, in natural environments, these animals wouldnt be able to fend for themselves because of the amount of enemies they have that would eat them and tear them apart. Side: Fast, Cheap, and Efficient
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These farms produce food at less cost than smaller farms, enabling customers to save money on food purchases. It makes meat cheaper and then more affordable to people. Without these farms it is extremely difficult to produce and distribute huge quantities of food to feed large cities. Side: Fast, Cheap, and Efficient
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The positives of Factory Farming Cheap food production: Due to the use of technology and “economies of scale,” they produce food at less cost than smaller farms, thus enabling customers to save money on food purchases. Efficiency: The ability to efficiently produce and distribute huge quantities of food to feed large cities. Employment: Factory farms provide employment to nearby communities. Capital: Supporters argue that factory farms do invest in the communities in which they operate. Side: Fast, Cheap, and Efficient
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It’s no joke our economy is in a recession, we have low wages and high product costs. The price of gas continues to rise; meaning every product on the market is expensive. It is necessary that we are able to feed our population to survival, in order to feed the millions of people the cost of food in total has to be affordable. The farmers cannot control the cost of expenses, like gas, feed for the animals, or electricity (to an extent.) The only way to keep the cost of food low is to change the production of the animals, too a much cheaper faster method. It’s simple the more animals a farm can produce the more money the farmer makes. The process developed is known as factory farming. Factory farming produces cheap animals, like chicken, cattle and pigs by genetically altering their bodies to grow faster and larger. The farmer can then sell the product at a cheaper price because the time the animals spend on the farm is less, which decreases the cost of raising the animals. The organic farmers who raise unaltered animals spend more money on each animal because the life span of the animal is longer. Thus they have to sell their meat at a higher price. When a person then goes shopping for food they are trying to save money, they will buy the cheaper food so they could buy more food. Factory farming is necessary to keep our population hunger free, if people can’t buy food then the entire nation will suffer millions could die. Side: Fast, Cheap, and Efficient
I disagree. The law of supply and demand means that the more product is put on the market, the less the product is worth. Factory Farming gluts the market, lowering prices. In addition, America already produces enough food to supports its needs; it simply isn't distributed equallyl. Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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The food industry would make very little money over time if there was no factory farming. Thousands more people would starve because they wouldnt be able to afford it. It is low cost, low energy consumption, and fast. It's very easy to do it too where as farming needs time and effort and other products to become worth doing. Side: Fast, Cheap, and Efficient
True, prices might go up. But factory farming has actually led to overproduction. If farming reverted to humane practices it would not only benefit animals, it would give more agricultural workers jobs. Besides... If farmers were able to survive in the past than they can certainly survive by using those same methods today. Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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I agree a more humane manner of farming would produce more agricultural jobs. People would also feel better about the work they are doing. And certainly if we used the same farming techniques we did in the past we would be able to survive, but yet newer technology will be beneficial to the individual farmer. Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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The farms allow more farming jobs to stay in the US. If we had to do it the small farm way, farmers wouldn't be able to compete with prices of food from China because their labor costs are much lower. Also Factory farms provide employment to nearby communities. Side: Fast, Cheap, and Efficient
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With out Factory Farming, not enough food would be produced to feed all of the people in the world. Improvements in farming techniques allowed for significantly improved yields, and supported the urbanization of the population.Advocates of factory farming claim that factory farming has led to the betterment of housing, nutrition, and disease control over the last twenty years. In 1990 factory farming accounted for 30% of world meat production.By 2005 this had risen to 40%. If everyones looking at it in a bad way then why does it keep rising. Side: Fast, Cheap, and Efficient
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Again, I disagree. Enough food is produced globally to support the entire population; it simply is not distributed equally. "The world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day according to the most recent estimate that we could find.(FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food." (http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/ Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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a bounch of people recognized that raising animals for food damages the environment more than just about anything else that we do. Raising animals for food is wreaking havoc on the Earth. More than 260 million acres of land have been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farmed animals. Livestock grazing is the number one reason that plant species in the United States become threatened and go extinct and leads to soil erosion and eventual desertification. Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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Here's another example of cruelty within the industry of factory farming: "In one notorious case of extraordinary cruelty at Ward Egg Ranch in February 2003 in San Diego County, California, more than 15,000 spent laying hens were tossed alive into a wood-chipping machine to dispose of them." (http://www.farmsanctuary.org/issues/ Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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hormons help reduce the waiting time and the amount of feed eaten by an animal before slaughter in meat industries. In dairy cows, hormones can be used to increase milk production. Thus, hormones can increase the profitability of the meat and dairy industries. Synthetic steroid hormones used to fatten cows, have been found to affect cancer risk Side: Dangerous to environment/man
Since the 1920's factory farming has been a large component of American industry. Among the various animals that are subjected to this treatment are layer chickens. Here are some of cruelty that these animals are subjected too: 5 to 8 birds in a 14 square inch cage Beaks are seared off at birth Newborn males are separated out and suffocated with trash bags In summary, factory farming is both cruel and unnatural. It is villanous and should be banned. (http://www.idausa.org/facts/ Side: Dangerous to environment/man
The meat, poultry, and dairy industries in factory farming are extremely harmful to human beings. They use hormones and other chemicals to maximize production and profit which can be a potential cause to unknown sufferings and deaths. Millions of Americans are infected each year and die from contaminated food products that the factory farming causes. Side: Dangerous to environment/man
In addition to inhumane condition, "almost 50% of all antibiotics are administered to farm animals." (http://www.idausa.org/facts/ Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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factory farming harms farm animals such as cows who are kept in a small concrete stall with metal floors where they are kept pregnant and lactating. On average a cow lives 20-25 yeas, in the factory farms they live around 4 years if they are lucky. Then when the cow's production of milk lowers, it slawtered. Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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Agricultural waste from factory farms is allowed to run off into the waterways. It has gotten so bad that "dead zones" have formed that are uninhabitable to aquatic life. The EPA asst. administrator says agriculture is the arguably the single largest source of water pollution in the USA. Side: Dangerous to environment/man
Family farms have been the core of agriculture for thousands of years. They don’t produce more than the carrying capacity of the land and they understand the condition of the soil and its ability to sustain various crops from season to season. They commonly produce and save their own seeds, a practice that has helped small farms maintain the integrity of crops, and allow hardier, diverse strains of plants to prosper. Contrasting this, industrial farms use a few strains of high yielding crops, an approach that threatens genetic diversity and often leads to chemical dependency. Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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Factory farming is the form of raising animals for food in extreme confinement, in order to maximize profits. In addition to intense confinement, abuses usually associated with factory farming include massive doses of hormones and antibiotics, battery cages, gestation crates, and veal crates. All the things injected into the animal for growth are extremely bad for them and also the consumers. The use of growth promoting antibiotics, and anabolic hormones in meat production makes contamination of the meat supply is commonplace. Given the levels of overcrowding, unhygienic rearing, and transportation conditions it is not difficult to see how easy it is to get a deadly bacteria or virus through the animals. Intensive animal production may yield high profits but only by imposing some pretty vicious costs. Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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Factory Farming is a dangerous industry that has been in place since the 1920's. And has become a prominent American Industry. But must be stopped. Most animals at factory farms never see the light of day in dark overcrowded facilities. And are often injected with hormones that make them grow faster. Such overcrowded facilities are perfect settings for disease and bacteria such as salmonella to grow which is then consumed by the public. Sadly each year we see more and more cases of salmonella poisonings, this factory farming industry must come to an end now. Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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Your taking wild animals, who would probably be killed quicker and more viciously in the environments they were born in, and using them to help millions of people, whether they were in the factory or not they are going to be killed, its called survival of the fittest, would you rather die in pain or helping people? Side: Fast, Cheap, and Efficient
The more I learn about this stuff the more I understand the reason why vegetarians don’t eat meat. Giant meat industries slaughter about 32,000 pigs a day. Tyson is the largest meat producing company in the world. The work environment is unsafe for the workers and animals. The animals are born into suffering and die suffering. The small slaughterhouses are much safer, cleaner, and a much better environment for the animals. Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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Factory farms emit harmful gases and particles such as methane and hydrogen sulfide, which can contribute to global warming and harm the health of those living or working nearby. Air pollution is caused by he overuse of machinery and water pollution is caused by pesticides and fertilizers. http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/ Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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Although this is true, cooping chickens up in mass amounts add to more reproduction and adds to feeding the less fortunate in the world. Even though some of the chickens die, the rate of chickens living to dieing is more, so the people living in poverty can also eat chicken. Side: Fast, Cheap, and Efficient
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Antibiotic resistence is becoming a serious issue. Humans in the US receive about 3 million pounds of antibiotics a year, which is nothing compared to the 25 million pounds animals are given. And while in theory they have to wait for the drugs to leave the system this is not enforced nearly often enough (in the same way that many chickens in the store still have arsenic in them.) Side: Dangerous to environment/man
Factory Farming is also a huge source of pollution. For example: According to (http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/ "Huge open-air waste lagoons, often as big as several football fields, are prone to leaks and spills. In 1995 an eight-acre hog-waste lagoon in North Carolina burst, spilling 25 million gallons of manure into the New River. The spill killed about 10 million fish and closed 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shellfishing." Side: Dangerous to environment/man
Finally, in addition to inhumane conditions and pollution, factory farms give rise to monopolistic trusts. According to the Natural Resource Defense Council, the ten largest companies produce more than 90 percent of the nation's poultry. Clearly, this is monopolistic economic rule Side: Dangerous to environment/man
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