Industrial agriculture is known as the dominant system in the United States that produces most of the food. Industrial agriculture features enormous animal production facilities and single-crop farms. The system is meant to produce a sustainable and massive amount of food. Within the system is the production of: meat, dairy, fish, vegetables, and fruits. The production of these items would be considered healthy if they were not altered with additives, GMO’s, hormones, pesticides, and antibiotics. Over the past decades, questionable practices by the system have been used, causing many health and environmental issues. One of the many issues in the system is the treatment of animals in factory farms. When grocery shopping, have you ever wondered
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Large industries require a great amount of people to run all the operations, resulting in job opportunities. Since factory farms provide a vast amount of food, much of the price is reduced. According to the article, “7 Vital Pros and Cons of Factory Farming,” “the average American pays significantly less for food than those living in other countries. The price of meat in particular is much higher outside the United States. With factory farming, the price of meat can stay low, allowing for millions of Americans to afford meat in their diet” (Editor 1). Not only does it provide society with a great amount of food, but the factories obtain millions of dollars, making it one of the best businesses to be in. All this sounds great, but at what cost? Animal cruelty, health and environmental concerns are still haunting the business. In order to supply a large food source, the animals’ well-being has to be overlooked. Not to mention all the waste generated by all the production. There is about “500 million tons of factory farm waste generated in the United States each year,” and this means that “130 times more of farm-animal waste is produced than humans” (Solotaroff 1). The animals are not living in healthy conditions, so how is this healthy food for humans to
Large industries require a great amount of people to run all the operations, resulting in job opportunities. Since factory farms provide a vast amount of food, much of the price is reduced. According to the article, “7 Vital Pros and Cons of Factory Farming,” “the average American pays significantly less for food than those living in other countries. The price of meat in particular is much higher outside the United States. With factory farming, the price of meat can stay low, allowing for millions of Americans to afford meat in their diet” (Editor 1). Not only does it provide society with a great amount of food, but the factories obtain millions of dollars, making it one of the best businesses to be in. All this sounds great, but at what cost? Animal cruelty, health and environmental concerns are still haunting the business. In order to supply a large food source, the animals’ well-being has to be overlooked. Not to mention all the waste generated by all the production. There is about “500 million tons of factory farm waste generated in the United States each year,” and this means that “130 times more of farm-animal waste is produced than humans” (Solotaroff 1). The animals are not living in healthy conditions, so how is this healthy food for humans to