The Problem

The majority of animal-derived products in the U.S. today come from “factory farms.” Due to the agricultural revolution of the mid-twentieth century, farm animals have been increasingly relocated from open pastures to large feedlots and warehouses called “concentrated animal feeding operations” (CAFOs). Animal agriculture today is a capital-intensive and mechanized process whereby ownership and control has shifted from families to a relatively small number of large agribusiness corporations. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that this trend toward larger farms, driven by the motive to increase profits through new technologies and large volume production, has intensified since the late 1980s in all industries, with the greatest increases in the dairy and hog industries. The typical animal product comes from larger and larger operations, leading to fewer small farms, which are unable to compete with the resources of large factory farms. Many family farmers today do not directly own the majority of their operation, as they have become merely subcontractors for large agribusinesses. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), this trend toward larger operations is projected to continue worldwide.

The rise and proliferation of factory farming has raised a number of social, economic, and ethical concerns. A wealth of research from environmental and animal scientists, public health scholars, sociologists, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations has revealed the massive scale of factory farming’s negative impacts on public health, the environment, and animal welfare. In what follows, we concisely summarize the research on these three problem areas and then provide informed recommendations for public policy solutions and social action. We offer specific policy recommendations to address some of the worst impacts of industrial animal agriculture in the short-term, but also argue that long-term strategies to transition to plant-based diets and to diversify the goals of food production (beyond profitability) are needed to address the interrelated root causes of public health, environmental, and animal welfare problems.

The Research

Public Health Impacts

Various bacterial and viral pathogens are linked to CAFOs and slaughterhouses due to contamination from animal manure. Usually originating from cattle manure, people ingest Escherichia coli O157:H7 through water or food, which can cause bloody diarrhea, seizures, comas, severe kidney damage, and death.