The Truth About Factory Farming

Close to 99% of all meat consumed in the United States comes from what are called "factory farms". So chances are that the last piece of meat you ate (whether it's fish, beef, chicken or pork) came from one of these so called "farms".

But what exactly is factory farming?

Some of you may be familiar with the name, but few know what they are, what they do, and what meaning they have to us as consumers. And here's where I come in. To tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

First, I would like you to visualize where you think your meat comes from. Do you see that big red barn? Oh, look! A happy farmer and his little family! Look at all those happy cows, pigs and chickens roaming free on the open grasslands! Beautiful, isn't it?

Now, completely erase that image from your mind. And don't worry if this was the way you thought farming was, because up until recently, that's what I thought too.

Okay, now that that visual has now (hopefully) disintegrated in your mind, I would like for you to picture a real factory farm. Imagine a long shed with a tin roof, and inside there are animals (chickens, cows, pigs... your choice) either stacked in cages to the ceiling or packed in an extremely small area. Now, these animals aren't the slightest bit happy. Their bodies may be too big for their legs to carry them due to the excessive amount of steroids and drugs that they are forced to take. The animals that are in severe pain aren't even the worst of it. Many lie dead on the ground and decay for days before being taken away. Blood curdling cries flood the room, and the animals are in a frenzy, yet they have nowhere to go.

(If you are still having trouble trying to grasp that image, as many of us initially do, please refer to the picture above.)

This is where your meat comes from. This is where 99% of all of our meat comes from. And this, my friends, is only a broad picture of what goes on in factory farms across our nation. I could possibly go on for pages and pages about the specifics, but those will come to you in later posts.

At this point, I am only looking for you to get a little picture in your mind of what I'm talking about and what I care about.

And as I sign off for today, I am asking you one thing:

Is this where you want your meat to come from?


(Image credit: "Broiler Chickens Raised for Slaughter" by Farm Sanctuary via Flickr)

(Citation: "99% of..." calculation by Jonathan Safran Foer based on census inventory, EPA regulations, and NASS reports from 2007 and 2008)