Informative Essay On Factory Farms

When you sit down for a nice dinner with your family, do you consider where your food is from? Do you imagine a sprawling farm with lush green grass and animals frolicking in the sunshine?
Unfortunately, this isn't the case. Instead of sunny spaces with rolling hills, our modern farms are dirty, confined areas, rife with suffering and pain. "Today, most Americans get their meat, milk, and eggs from highly productive, anonymous animal factories located hundreds or thousands of miles away from their home ... The disconnect between people and their food has never been greater" (Kirby 439). What are these places called? Factory farms.
According to the ASPCA, "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" (ASPCA). Like products on assembly lines, animals are routinely reduced to what arrives on our plates. However, what we think is how our food is processed is far from the reality.
Animals are not just killed when they are sick or injured. Take cows, for example. "While cows can live naturally to about twenty years old, many dairy cows living in factory farms are sent to slaughter before they reach the age of five" (Huffington Post). In other words, cows only live out a quarter of their lives before they die. And those five years are filled with misery. "Factory farms pack animals into spaces so tight that most can barely move. Many have no access to the outdoors, spending their lives on open warehouse floors, or housed in cages or pens. Without the room to engage in natural behaviors, confined animals experience severe physical and mental distress" (ASPCA).
Beyond the tiny spaces, more goes into animal suffering.
Demonstrated in his documentary, Ben Goldsmith shows the suffering of animals. " 'Because of this industry, turkeys are no longer capable of reproducing without human interference,' Goldsmith explained. 'Chickens are bred to grow so quickly they are not able to stand or stand freely after just several months of their lives, and they certainly can't live out the normal life span that they once could. Cows and cattle are confined to feedlots by the thousands and cramped in filthy conditions. Hogs in most states are routinely confined to crates so small that they can't turn around' " (Gross
12).
Clearly, animals are suffering. But are we? How are humans affected? Can the world be afflicted, too? The answer to all of those is yes.
Often, there are product recalls and national sickness scares. "Farms that are not properly maintained can be breeding grounds for salmonella and E. coli, which are passed to humans through meat, dairy and eggs" (ASPCA). These diseases can make humans very sick, and are a direct result of the way animals are kept in the farms. Leading off of this, those diseases are not only treated, but prevented, with antibiotics. "In 2011, more than 80 percent of antibiotics produced were fed to livestock" (Huffington Post). In other words, the majority of antibiotics were fed to animals. Antibiotics treat infections, and the more they are used, the less effective they become. This can cause rises of previously easily treated disease mutations that have surpassed our modern antibiotics.
Along with afflicting us, factory farming also hurts the planet. "Waste runoff from factory farms pollutes the water, land and air in neighboring communities, compromising both human health and quality of life. At the same time, these businesses consume massive quantities of precious, finite resources including water and fossil fuels" (ASPCA). As a whole, the globe is becoming more conscious of the damage we are inflicting upon our planet. However, our efforts are negated by the stress factory farming puts on the environment.
So what can we do about factory farming?
We can start in our grocery stores by not caving into buying their products. "If you refuse to buy factory farmed products, the businesses which provide them will quickly get the message that there is no future in cruelty" (Make it Possible). With less demand for meat and related products, the less they will produce. Another path to reducing is to participate in programs such as the farm-to-table movement. It supports local and family farms, and the community. But beyond local efforts, joining groups that lobby for animal rights forces politicians to take a closer look at what is going on underneath their
noses.
Overall, factory farming hurts not only the animals, but us as well. Everyone needs to do their part in order to take care of the world we live in.