Factory Farming

Factory Farming

Outline

Factory farming involves the rearing of livestock in a locked up area at an alarmingly high stocking density, in which the farm tends to operate as an industrial unit rearing livestock with the sole aim of earning more money. The main products of factory farming are milk, meat, eggs and cheese. (Gollehon N, Caswell M, Ribaudo M, Kellogg R, Lander C, and Letson D. 2001)

The confinement at such high stocking density is only one part of an organized effort to produce the optimum output at a significantly lower costs hence targeting for achieving the economies of scale. This practice is more regularized by the usage of modern machinery, global trade and most importantly bio technology. There seems to be a lot of variations in the factory farming practices that are conducted around the world and is hence been a source of continuing debate with relevance to its risks, benefits and all the ethical questions related to factory farming. (Gollehon N, Caswell M, Ribaudo M, Kellogg R, Lander C, and Letson D. 2001)

As a result of the 18th century's agricultural revolution, the agricultural practices around the world became a lot more intensive than they once used to be. The improvement in the farming techniques, in turn led to an alarmingly high boost in the amount of yields hence paving the way for urbanization during the Industrial Revolution. A lot of innovations in the agricultural practices were indeed introduced during the late 19th century during the time period of mass production in the other industries. Additionally, the recognition of phosphorous and nitrogen as the prime factors leading to growth in plants also led to the development of synthetic  fertilizers thus making possible more rigorous types of agriculture. Moreover, the progress in the global technology has also made the long-distance distribution of these agricultural produce a more feasible option for people. (Marks R. 2001)

During the 1970s, only five main beef packers controlled almost a quarter of the market. Whereas today only beef packers such as Pearce, Schlosser, Kenner and Poglad control more than half of the market. Moreover, it's not just the number of people controlling the meat industry; it's in fact the entire industry itself that has changed. Before the inception of the concept of factory farming, the traditional farms let the cattle to nibble on the grasslands. According to Zuzworsky, (2001) in order to meet the increasing demands of American's public for meat, factory farming is not just favorable in terms of economically, but at the same time extremely necessary as well. (Horrigan L, Lawrence RS, and Walker P.2002)

Moreover, the process of Factory farming can seem to produce a larger quantity of meat at a significantly less price than traditional farming. Additionally, factory farming also tends to cause adverse and unfavorable problems for the environment as biodiversity goes away during the process of the building of the pastures. Apart from this, these farms also produces a lot of toxic waste which ultimately results in significantly polluted waterways, leading to the excessive use of ...