Factory farming

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Factory farming, also known as industrial agriculture, refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops. The methods deployed are geared toward making use of economies of scale to produce the highest output at the lowest cost. The practice is widespread in developed nations, and most of the meat, dairy, eggs, and crops available in supermarkets are produced in this manner.

Origins of the term "factory farming"

The origin of the term factory farm is not clear, although the Oxford English Dictionary attributes the first recorded use to an American journal of economics in 1890, while it didn't enter pejorative use until the 1960s. A 1998 documentary film, A Cow at My Table, showed the term being used within the agricultural industry as descriptive of "factory-like" farming operations. In recent decades, the term has been widely used by environmental and animal rights groups, and thus has a negative connotation, at least in public forums. Factory farm(ing) is usually included in modern dictionaries as simply referring to "large-scale agriculture", although a more explicit definition is emerging, as in Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English: "a system of large-scale industrialized and intensive agriculture that is focused on profit with animals kept indoors and restricted in mobility." The term is at times used in opposition to the term family farm.

History

The practice of industrial agriculture is a relatively recent development in the history of agriculture, and the result of scientific discoveries and technological advances. Innovations in agriculture beginning in the late 1800s generally parallel developments in mass production in other industries that characterized the latter part of the Industrial Revolution. The identification of nitrogen and phosphorus as critical factors in plant growth led to the manufacture of synthetic fertilizers, making possible more intensive types of agriculture. The discovery of vitamins and their role in animal nutrition, in the first two decades of the 20th century, led to vitamin supplements, which in the 1920s allowed certain livestock to be raised indoors, reducing their exposure to adverse natural elements. The discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s facilitated raising livestock in larger numbers by reducing disease. Chemicals developed for use in World War II gave rise to synthetic pesticides. Developments in shipping networks and technology have made long-distance distribution of agricultural produce feasible.

Role in food production

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, ninety-eight percent of all farms in the United States are "family farms". Two percent of farms are not family farms, and those two percent make up fourteen percent of total agricultural output in the United States, although half of them have total sales of less than $50,000 per year. Overall, ninety-one percent of farms in the United States are considered small family farms and account for twenty-seven percent of production, while seven percent are classified as large family farms and account for fifty-nine percent of production. Together, non-family and large family farms account for nine percent of all farms and seventy-three percent of production. The most recent trend in agricultural production in indicates a sharp production shift to non-family and "very large" family-owned farms, with their combined share rising from thirty-eight percent in 1989 to fifty-eight percent in 2003. The USDA predicts this trend will continue, given the average negative operating profit margin and growing share of operators over 65 in the small family farm sector.

Four companies produce 81 percent of cows, 73 percent of sheep, 60 percent of pigs, and 50 percent of chickens brought to market in the U.S. According to the National Pork Producers Council, 80 million of the 95 million pigs slaughtered each year are intensively reared through industrial agriculture.

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Crops

Features

large scale — hundreds or thousands of acres of a single crop (much more than can be absorbed into the local or regional market);
monoculture — large areas of a single crop, often raised from year to year on the same land, or with little crop rotation;
agrichemicals — reliance on imported, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to provide nutrients and to mitigate pests and diseases, these applied on a regular schedule; the use of fertilizer recycled from toxic waste and other hazardous industrial byproducts is common in the US.
hybrid seed — use of specialized hybrids designed to favor large scale distribution (e.g. ability to ripen off the vine, to withstand shipping and handling);
genetically engineered crops — use of genetically modified varieties (GMOs) designed for large scale production (e.g. ability to withstand selected herbicides);
large scale irrigation — heavy water use, and in some cases, growing of crops in otherwise unsuitable regions by extreme use of water (e.g. rice paddies on arid land).
high mechanization

Criticism

Critics of intensively farmed crops cite a wide range of concerns. On the food quality front, it is held by critics that quality is reduced when crops are bred and grown primarily for cosmetic and shipping characteristics. Environmentally, factory farming of crops is claimed to be responsible for loss of biodiversity, degradation of soil quality, soil erosion, food toxicity (pesticide residues) and pollution (through agrichemical build-ups and runoff, and use of fossil fuels for agrichemical manufacture and for farm machinery and long-distance distribution).

Alternatives

The definition of industrial agriculture is somewhat variable, and therefore the proposed alternatives to industrial agriculture are not sharply defined. In general, critics of industrial agriculture advocate decentralized approaches to food production, such as guerilla gardening, smaller farms serving local farmer's markets or community supported agriculture, and the reduction or elimination of synthetic agents in agriculture.

A number of countries, including the United States, have legislated organic production standards, which preclude some of the practices that characterize industrialized agriculture. The United States Department of Agriculture has made detailed regulations which cover many aspects of agricultural production, processing, storage and transportation. However, terminology used by the USDA in regards to many of its regulations, including those concerning animal welfare, is vague and may be construed in the farm's favor. Very large-scale agriculture which may be viewed as "industrialized" is still possible under organic regulations.

Some have proposed genetically modified foods as a way to address certain issues in industrial agriculture, particularly concerns with excess use of pesticides and fertilizers.

Others believe the production of livestock to be unnecessary, and suggest the abolishment of the industry altogether, promoting a vegan lifestyle.

References

Oxford English Dictionary, Second Ed. - factory
factory farming. Dictionary.com. Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.6). Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/factory farming (accessed: April 04, 2007).
USDA's "U.S. Farms: Numbers, Size, and Ownership"
Taken from testimony by Leland Swenson, president of the U.S. National Farmer's Union, before the House Judiciary Committee, September 12, 2000, cited in Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 29.
Scully, Matthew. Dominion, St. Martin's Griffin, p. 29.
Duff, Wilson. "Fear In The Fields -- How Hazardous Wastes Become Fertilizer ...", The Seattle Times: July 3, 1997.

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