The Bbc Describes Intensive Farming To Include “Practices

Hurst sees that the methods of industrial farming could have less impact on the environment than people think. “The combination of herbicides and genetically modified seed has made my farm more sustainable...and actually reduces the pollution I send...” (Hurst 206). Hurst exclaims that the farmers are making consumers happy, and even provide the consumers with inexpensive food. He claims that “farmers can raise food in different ways if that is what the market wants” but even so “there are environmental and food safety costs” to the type of farming farmers choose ( Hurst 206). Personally, I believe it’s known that there will always be some costs, but this should not deter us from trying our absolute best to find a better and safer way of farming. Blake Hurst adds that he uses all animal manure available to him to reduce the amount of commercial fertilizer (Hurst 210) but this will not stop commercial fertilizer from being here. Therefore, Hurst would agree that the environment can be affected by industrial farming, but the methods farmers use are ones that would limit the negative effects as much as possible.

Typically, this is in part due to the overuse of antibiotics and the large amount of waste produced on feedlots. In Debra Miller’s book Factory Farming, it was said that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that infections relating to infected meat make around 3 million people sick each year, and said infections kill at least one thousand people annually (46). As the amount of feedlot meat consumed goes up, it is important to note that this number will dramatically increase accordingly. By the same token, CAFO meat has been found to carry deadly and dangerous diseases, as noted by Rachel Lynette saying, "Many people have become sick and even died from eating tainted meat... Some of the more serious illnesses include: salmonella, E. Coli, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CDJ), swine flu, and avian flu," (34). These diseases harm can be contracted easily among humans and can harm both physical and mental health. On the contrary, many people argue that the diseases can be controlled by administering antibiotics to animals. Michael Pollan interviewed one of these such defenders of the factory farm systems, Doctor Mel Metzin, who works as a veterinarian at a CAFO. When he asked about what would happen if drugs were banned from feedlots, he responded with, “We’d have a high death rate,” (60). It may seem that a simple fix to the contaminated meat issue is to give the

The majority of industrial farming is based on growing one crop. This method of growing one item extensively is known as monoculture. This type of farming depends on the heavy use of chemicals and pesticides as these fields are at a much higher risk for weeds, diseases, and pests. Heavy use of

This method can however be extremely efficient as humans are able to exert their control over the plant in order to produce what is demanded. On the other hand, polyculture is a form of hedging as many types of plants and their strains are grown in a singular area and while some may succumb to disease or pests, others will thrive. Contrasting the two forms of plant growth is the best way to see the advantages and disadvantages of monoculture. It is important to understand that Pollan expresses a clear dissatisfaction with monoculture as he says it “is at the root of virtually every problem that bedevils the modern farmer (page 225)” because of the many “unimagined new complexities (page 185)” that come along with it. This form of plant cultivation has created what is known as “biological pollution” in plants where resistance in pests and weeds has grown to significant numbers and is also highly dependent on genetic engineering for its survival. Conversely, polyculture uses nature against itself by directing pests to plants that are not being raised for human purposes and also by avoiding the use of pesticides or herbicides that begin

www.farmsanctuary.org Factory Farming and the Environment describes some of the concerns that come about with large scale farms. Factory farms need very large numbers of acres to keep the cows fed and the people in nearby communities fed also. Factory farms need millions of gallons of water to water crops and for all the animals. The farms also produce large amounts of manure which are generally collected in large pits until it can be transported into the fields. The fact is large amounts of manure are used to help crops grow and rarely go into oceans or rivers because there are many regulations and inspections that deal with the movement of manure. When there is a disaster and large amounts of manure does get into oceans and streams, many animals and other living things are affected and or killed. Methane from all animals is a big greenhouse gas and many environmentalists believe having too many farm animals is adding to the effect on the climate change. www.ciwf.org.uk.com Compassion in world farming is where I found a lot of information about this subject. Without large scale farms there would not be enough food to feed the billions of people in the world. People either don't know how to or are too lazy to grow food for themselves. If more people would raise their own food it would ultimately reduce the

Even though higher yields are met for demand and human consumption, factory farming is cruel to animals due to the fact animals are often subject to harsh living conditions, more susceptible to diseases and injuries and are treated inhumanely during the slaughtering process. Unfortunately, with an increase in human population worldwide, the strain on farmers to meet the demand increases as well. This in turn causes more animals to be subject to this cruelty.

In Laura Sayre's article, she contends that factory farming seriously threatens human health. Sayre cites multiple health and agricultural organizations to back her claims. She begin by explaining that diseases are not only spread by the food but by land, air, water, and factory workers. She then points out the over use of antibiotics by factory farms and how many disease strains are now resistant to these antibiotics. Sayre continues, by explaining the history of pathogens that have been pasted to humans by various animals thought out time. According to Sayre, the increase of infectious diseases is mainly due to the expansion of factory farming. Then Sayre goes on to describe, with the help of research completed by Johns Hopkins, why livestock

The effects of factory farming is not worth the damage that is done to the health of the environment, animals, and people. The idea of a factory farm is to produce meat at a faster pace, but the way these companies accomplish this task makes life a living hell for the animals. For example, “They’re often given so little space that they can’t even turn around or lie down comfortably. Egg-laying hens are kept in small cages, chickens and pigs are kept in jam-packed sheds, and cows are kept on crowded, filthy feedlots”(Factory). The animals on these farms have to experience constant fear and agony, especially since most factory farmed animals will be genetically manipulated to grow larger or to produce more milk or eggs than they naturally would, and suffer severe pain throughout their entire life(Factory). Animals, especially cows, are being abused not only physically, but mentally as well.. For example, “just within hours of birth, calves are taken away from

Environmental damage, when cattle and pigs are kept in major enclosures excrement becomes a pollutant rather than a fertiliser. Also because corn rather than grass has become the main feed for factory “farmed” animals. Food distribution have the situation where corn is shipped to meat growing houses, then the meat is shipped to consumers, with all the attendant petrol costs, which you wouldn’t have with local food production systems

Each farmer and each of his workers would take good care of every plant they harvested and they made sure the livestock had all of the right nutrients in their systems before eating them. As the farmers were making sure everything was treated correctly and everything was healthy, they were able to take care of their livestock without harming them. Since there were no agricultural technological advances yet, everything was done by hand or with the help of livestock to make farming easier. Sustainable agriculture was practiced for many years until the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution increased agricultural production worldwide and led to commercial farming, which is now the most popular form of farming. Many industries now have abused the power of commercial farming making every animal eat differently than what the animal would naturally be eating used to and they are also making the animals sick before they are turned into products. Food Inc. shows the realization of how badly the animals are treated through this documentary. The animals, such as chickens and cows, are being cooped up in a small building where they have no free space to exercise their legs, thus making their legs frail and damaged. As that is very common in the commercial farming industry, it is animal abuse. Instead of cows being able to roam freely and eat grass as they naturally would, they are being fed corn in buckets so the farmers can fatten them up in a short amount of time. As the farmers are now making the main diet of all animals corn, it changed the way their meat

Some people know factory farming as a CAFO or AFO, but to make it simple factory farming is industrial animal production facilities. CAFO’s are increasingly how the agribusiness industry is meeting our country’s demand for beef, poultry, and pork. A typical factory farm consists of many large metal buildings where the animals are houses. Some people might believe that farm animals live in a pleasure full environment. Others might not. For instance, maybe some believe that “cows are left to graze on green fields while pigs live on quaint family farms” (Williams 374). Better yet, this beautiful image is far from reality. Animals used for factory farming are not living in that so called pleasure full environment. For one, the business of raising animals for food consumption is becoming more and more competitive as the days goes by. As Nancy Williams states, “Billions of animals are born, confined, biologically manipulated, transported, and ultimately slaughtered each year” (Williams 375). Unfortunalty, these situations can lead to animal cruelty and be prone to unsanitary

As the soil becomes more and more polluted with these toxins, it becomes unsustainable. Therefore, land that would have remained fertile for centuries through the commonsense farming of our ancestors, is being ruined by farming controlled by big corporations whose sole interest is in immediate short term profit (Goodall 38). Industrialized livestock farming with thousands of animals crammed into small factory spaces is responsible for numerous bacterial and viral infections such as E.coli., Avian bird flu, Mad cow disease, Salmonella, and many more. Therefore, conventional farmers use antibiotics to keep these animals alive. This over use of antibiotics is causing the creation of new, resistant strains of deadly diseases that kill people and animals. Disease is actually caused by the bad practices, shortcuts, and antibiotic resistance. This has the opposite effect of what was intended and also costs farmers millions of dollars every year instead of saving money. Unfortunately, conventional agriculture experts recommend these monocultural farming practices in the name of quick, mass production.

The law of demand says that the higher the price, the lower the quantity demanded, and the lower the price, the higher the quantity demanded. According to the food market sector, grass-fed beef is higher than cattle raised by grain. Therefore, because of the high competition placed on corn fed-beef, the price of grass-fed beef remains low. The famers also cause the low price of grass-fed beef, in the sense that they try to compete with the famers of corn-fed beef. However many of the famers seem to ignore the price of raising the cattle. The cost of these beef affects the environment. Firstly, this beef causes pollution as a result of CAFOS. The waste product produced from CAFOS are mostly realized into the river, stream, and lake. The waste product contains ammonia, this gas has an unpleasant odor, which can be detectable even at low concentrations. When it contains a high concentration, it becomes harmful to vegetation. When this gas is flushed into a water body, it is more serious, because it is very toxic to aquatic organisms. However, with this it gradually degrade the environment and all its natural value. This is caused by the food the cattle is raised with grain (WBGH Education Foundation). Amount spent on antibiotics for these cattle is another most avoidable matter. Health wise, the cost of making the cattle grow quickly from different methods of feeding, destroys the immune system of the animal. Because of the bacteria that is caused by these method. In other words, whatever disease an animal has, will transfer to his/her prey. That means it also can affect the human system. Not just affecting but also destroying it leading the person to death. E. coli (Escherichia coli 0157: H7), is an example of the disease that can be transferred from the cattle to his/ her prey. When boosting the cattle immune system, microbes becomes resistant, more antibiotics are used to reduce this. All this and many more add to

You can feed 10 times more people with the food which is not based on animal meat. Each year of forests and forest disappear so they can graze animals. In addition, the intensive farming generates waste (manure) and highly polluting methane.

The current situation across Canada has is one of decreasing farm operations, while simultaneously those farms that remain are larger (Eagle 2016, 16). This is bad for several reasons. First, as farm sizes expand so too do crops planted leading to ‘monoculture’ techniques of farming (Zentner et. al 2011, 114). In agriculture, monoculture farming while increasing short-term benefits from increased crop yield is detrimental in the long-term (Entz 2015, 28). This is evident in a decrease in crop yield and the degradation of the environment, which consequently decreases income generated (Pare et. al 2014, 83). The greater impact of monoculture agriculture is the detrimental effect it has on the environment. While farming is the lifeblood of a nation, if it engenders environmental devastation then its necessity is severely limited. Current farming practices are having an ever greater environmental impact (Zentner et. al 2011, 114). This is a product of how farming is conducted, as contemporary farming is dependent upon non-renewable sources of energy for most aspects of the farming process, including preparation of land and harvesting of crops (Zentner et. al 2011, 114). Besides the increasingly detrimental effect on the environment, another impact of monoculture farming is the impact on