The essay Meat and Milk Factories by Peter Singer and Jim Mason is written with plenty of statistics and interviews. This may seem like a cruel essay to read for people that have lived in cities and never seen the sight of a farm. For the people who raise livestock, there may be some arguments with in the article. The authors hit on a key subject of the intensity of factory farms. The dictionary definition of intensive is, “requiring or having a high concentration of a specified quality or element” (dictionary.com). Singer and Mason show the pressure of the industry is causing the farmers to produce faster and more quantities of live stock. “The average American eats more than 200 pounds of red meat, poultry, and fish per year” (Singer 544). This is intensely determines what happens on the farm and how it happens.
Like any industry a market has to meet the demand of the people who are buying from the industry. To supply the people with a good quality and mass quantities things have to been done certain ways. Each industry is different but is closely related to the intense need for meat in America. Each one is different because each meat is consumed differently by the American people. The need of certain meats determines on how hard the industry needs to work to meet the demand. On the contrary the American people are always going to eat some kind of meat no matter if it is fish, poultry, or red meat. It is required for a healthy diet. The intensity of the livestock industry will always be determined on how intense the people need the product.
No matter how intense the industry gets or how cruel it may seem for farmers to do certain thing to the livestock. With almost every American meal there is almost some sort of farm industry that is involved. To fight the system means that the cost of any farm produced product will go up. Even with the economy on a down fall the Lord gave his people this gift, “Then God said, “Let us make in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (English Standard Bible, Genesis 1:26).
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