Should factory farming be allowed?

Question

And what are your views? scientific and ethical

Also any links would be appreciated

Answer 1

How do you define a factory farm? If you mean modern farms, I seriously doubt that the present population of the world could be fed if all big, modern farms were abandoned.

I also wonder if the world can long support the population that we have now and the projected populations. Certainly not if all of them were to live in a modern,developed style

Answer 2

No its very wrong

Answer 3

Absolutely, not it goes against nature.

Answer 4

no it shouldent, factory farming leads to animal cruelty. farming should be done naturally and by someone who cares about it insted of some huge company wh is only concerned about making money.

Answer 5

Absolutely, we need more of this to lower the price of meat!

Answer 6

Factory farms are cruel to the animals (which makes for low quality and possibly unhealthy food for humans, but if people want to eat c**p okay, you know you are what you eat) and they are horrible neighbors as they operate as farms and do not have to deal with the waste other than to store it in lagoons. this is bad because a single hog farm can have 500K pigs on it and each pig produces more waste per day than a city of 500K humans. And yet these facilities do not have to treat their sewage. This sucks for neighbors within a mile of such a farm. the air stinks and cause health problems for people and it drives property values down.

the other thing is these farms rarely have to pay for the county roads they destroy with big trucks and other large equipment using these roads. the roads were never intended for such use. So again these "farms" have a negative impact on their neighbors.

So okay on one hand we have the free market but on the other hand we have irresponsible farms literally sh88ing on their neighbors.

So I would say if factory farms cleaned up their acts they could be workable but i don't see this happening any time soon.

Answer 7

It should be allowed. We have a free enterprise economy. It should be better regulated to prevent cruelty to the animals. As much as I dislike regulation by the government, something must be done to change the current conditions of battery farming. If factory farming is not cleaned up to be more humane it will soon be disallowed altogether with drastic consequences to our food supply.

Answer 8

Coming from a farming community factory farming is not farming. People are so concerned about going "organic", yet at the same time worried about mega farms. What do you think is put on your "organic" food!?! It is the c**p that you think your water is being poisoned by. As far as I am concerned farming should be kept simple. Plant it (in a field), maintain it, then harvest it! What is so hard about that?!

Answer 9

Yes, I don;t have a problem with it.

Farming isn't natural anyway. There are lots of people to feed and it has to be done as efficiently as possible.

Answer 10

since no one wants to limit population, maybe it's a solution, temporary one any way

Answer 11

The subject is agriculture and the purpose is to sustain people. With biofuels and other"green " projects requiring more productive land than previously, more efficient ways to produce product will be needed. If " factory farming" means producing more through better farming and husbandry methods, then so be it. The food supply must meet the population's demand or the population will insure that it does, through one method or another.

Answer 12

What would happen if factory farming was suddenly dis-allowed? Think of that... one problem is that there are not enough small farmers like myself around anymore to feed every one. Don't get me wrong, as a small farmer I understand that it is not, that we, as a populous on the planet, could not be supplied with food from small farmers,  if there were more small farmers around, and that we would have much healthier food produced in a much more sustainable manner. The problem is corporate monopolies, funded mostly by the petroleum industry (chemical ferterlizers), have slowly but surely driven small farmers off the land. They artificially manipulated commodity prices down so that small farmers could not compete in the market place. How? By creating farming systems based on their chemical fertilizers, designed to maximize crop production and profit margins, at any cost to the land, in terms of fertility, without regard to sustainability. It worked...this increased commodity supply which drove prices down,  small farmers could not compete. Corporate agribiz bought up land from the small farmers they drove out of business.... and put even more acres under the same artificial maximum crop production systems...then (at least in the USA) they insulated their corporate interests from the continued artificial drop in commodity prices by using corporate lobby power to put in place billions of government farm-bill $$$ subsidies, funded by you and me, the USA tax payers, that off-set the costs of doing corporate agri-biz . We the people are mostly ignorant of all this. We go to the grocery and buy relatively cheap food, all wrapped up nice and pretty. We the people have, by in large, lost our connection with the land in one generation. We do not see the danger that looms just a little in the future. I agree completely with the person who answered above: "support your local farmers (like me)", if you want factory farming to phase out . This is an idea whose time has come, and indeed, if you want to eat in the future you will do well to support your local small farmers. Unless you are very rich of course. If you do not beleive it just note the rapid rise in food prices at the grocery store... best make friends with your local farmers, they are more likely to have a heart, in times of hunger and want, than corporate agribiz.

Answer 13

All modern agriculture is a kind of factory.  In Nature [whatever that means], wheat, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, rice etc grow in small quantities.  By selective breeding [a form of DNA manipulation], all crops have been developed artificially to produce many more seeds than they would ever need to replicate their species.  The same has been true for all livestock.

The ethical choices now for the human race are stark:

1.   find a way to make vegetarianism acceptable to homo sapiens who are evolved to be omnivorous;

2.   limit the growth rate of the human population very severely so that the total population declines by about 2 billion people;

3.  pursue scientific food production by all means available including factory farming, genetic modification, everything.

Some combination of all three would be convenient but who is going to tell the poor people of Africa, India and South /America that they must stop having children?  Who will tell citizens of USA that they can no longer eat steak?  

I suggest that the only practical and morally acceptable choice is the third.  The physical salvation of the human race lies in its ability to produce more and more food by whatever clever means it can devise.  In the long run, the species will die out because all species do but, until then, feeding the world is the pre-eminent problem.

Answer 14

It's mainly a question of cost.  Keeping livestock the traditional way is very expensive in terms of labour and facilities.  Through the supermarkets, the buyers, that's you and me, want good food at lower costs, and so the only way to produce it is by intensive or factory farming.  If you saw the recent TV programmes by Hugh Fearnly Whatshisname, the chef;  he was banging on about free range chicken.  Everyone said yes we want it, but at the same time people were saying - Yes its great, but we just cannot afford to buy it.  So you pays your money and takes your choice.

Answer 15

I've lived around factory farming all my life and I can tell you that it is completely fine. Factory farming allows for cheaper prices of meat by producing more than a traditional farm can produce. If suddenly factory farming where to end meat prices would rise considerably and the price of grain would fall a lot which seems like a good thing for all you vegs out there, but traditional grain farmers would not be able to support themselves on fallen grain prices so big corporations would take over grain farming and grain prices would then rise because these corporations would be able to control supply.

Answer 16

As I read the papers today, I think we are LOOSING factorys at an alarming rate, so YES, factory farming is good. Anything to maintain our manufacturing capabilities.

Now, as silly as that paragraph sounds, so too, does your question.

Your question obviously comes from the arena of ignorance, misunderstanding, and sentiment.

Ignorance of the fact that without the efficiency of large farms you would not be able to have the quality of life you now experience (and I dare say, DEMAND).

Misunderstanding in that the business of "Big Farm" is just that, a business and as such, large scale is needed in order to keep cost low and comodity prices low also.

Sentimantality, in that much is made of the demise of the independant family farmer, as if somehow the curious and improbable fact is that he made it in spite of all odds, he did NOT.

He is an anachronism of the past, basking ONLY in the glory of high comodity prices because of the large operators. His individuality serves this country no great purpose other then for it to look back and see his exceptional contribution to the building of this country as an individual.  

In the early days of te 20th century, MANY men bet thier fortune on the the sucess of their idea of building an automobile. 99.8% of them FAILED at it. Yet, the needs of the American people as it pertained to the automobile, were always high and always met, but it became a rich mans game first, and later turned into a business that demanded hugh capital, skillls, and business accumen, things not normally found in an individual. This is the current condition of the farmer.

Cars are STILL built by men and they are still built in factories, just as the planting of the wheat and corn in the springtime will again be done by men, perhaps former crop landowners, and the crop will still be planted in the same fields as before, the difference will be that cost to break the first ground in the spring will be high, much higher then the family farmer can afford and when that time comes he will sell out to the conglomerate or go bankrupt, just as the car men did in the first half of the 20 th century.

As for my view, the ethics of the matter, they don't really matter. it is a financial issue of the best and most profitable use of of capital and scientifically, it is the wave of the future.

If the corporation were disallowed to participate in the agricultural sector of the marketplace, we would soon drop off the face of the earth as a world power.

What would your ethics think of THAT?

EDIT:

In response to Secretgenius, I disagree with your opinion of your question not being ignorant. READ the question C A R E F U L L Y and you will see that it is asking for a referundum on the "continued" existance of factory farms. This question is put forth near the end of life of the individual family farms as we know them and is an ignorant question because it is asked in the face of overwhelming need of efficient food production in the world.

To ask the question "Should factory farming be allowed?" is to give the possible choice of NO, reasonable currency in the debate. It is NOT a reasonable choice.

The policy of efficient production of food in this country is one of national security, not subject to a referundum.

While we have the luxury of such a question here in Yahoo, this does NOT mean that the question is not sourced from ignorance, a failure to understand the needs of this world and the methods chosen to meet those needs. Just as there is such a thing as Big Oil to satisfy our need for energy and Big Government to supply our need for social services, so there is Big Ag to provide our food.

To to question that it (factory farming) be allowed or not, struck me as an ignorant question and your later caveat that YOU had NO opinion on the matter whatsoever appears to confim that observation.

Answer 17

as long as proper greenhouse procedures r used, i don't see why not

Answer 18

I'm a small farmer.  I live in Idaho.  I raise meat goats, and meat rabbits in very humane conditions, that very closely mimic nature.

Factory farming is not a nice way to raise livestock.  The problem is, there's no other way to do it now.  If factory farming suddenly became illegal, there would be millions of starving people (remember the manure is used to raise crops also, so there would be less food both flesh, and vegtable).

The once fertile and productive farm land has been gobbled up by developers and built upon.  There's on going back. Houses, roads, and cities are not going to be torn down, so that livestock can once again be raised humanely.

Did you know that Central Park in New York City use to be a sheep pasture?  Think we are going to tear down New York and allow sheep to once again graze pastures there?  Me either.

The masses of people have to be fed somehow.  That "somehow" is via factory farms.

For people who do not like factory farms, you have three things that can make a real difference.

First, stop listening to all the fear driven media, supported by lobbiest for the mega huge agra business companies, and STOP voting for laws which drive more and more small farmers like myself out of business.

Second, buy from small farmers, like myself, and at your local farmers market.  Supporting your local small farmer is the best way to assure the eithical treatment of livestock, and safer foods in general to eat.

Third, have no more than one child.  Even better, have no children, but instead adopt an older child in need of a home.

The earth is already reaching critical mass for the number of humans it can support.  There simply isn't enough productive farm land to continue feeding our growing populations.

In a few more generations there are going to be famines...in 1st world countries.  

By the way, if "you" (anyone reading this) eat meat, you really need to research just how easy it is to raise rabbits for meat...even in an apartment.  I expect plenty of thumbs down for putting for the idea that people should raise and butcher their own meat animals (even if they live in apartments).  However I feel it is terribly hypocritical not to take responibility for feeding yourself, by raising some of your own food.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 19

No. But I bet most people who click no buy factory farmed meat themselves.

We are over fed in this country (England) and can afford to pay for proper welfare for animals. If you can't, don't eat them. Have you heard of grains, pulses and vegetables?

Answer 20

yes, now else will we grow enough factories?

Answer 21

Intensive factory farming (particulary poultry) is inhumane for the chickens and probably unhealthy for the consumer due to the quantities of antibiotics needed to keep poultry flocks 'disease free' due to their proximity. (same is true for battery egg farming). Organic is expensive and we now pay about 3 times less for our food as a fraction of disposable income than we did say 50 years ago. The solution, if one exists, would be a compromise between humane and hygenic livestock rearing practice, while producing a healthy and affordable product for the consumer at acceptable and affordable prices.

How?..If I knew that, I'd be CEO for Tesco, Asda etc + Minister for FAAF!

Answer 22

If you go to Wal-Mart... you support "factory" retailing.  Large grocery stores, Walgreen's, CVS... we want everything cheap in this country.  With only 1% of the population (USA) actively involved in the production of the food we consume... the question that begs to be asked is "Who else is going to do it?"

Answer 23

If enough people do not approve of factory farming it will die a natural death if we become more particular about where our food comes from.

Factory farming become irrelevant when sufficient numbers of us become vegetarian.

The issue of factory farming is very high on the list here in UK and has been highlighted in a number of cooking programs.

Food here in UK is going to become increasingly more expensive over the next few years.  There are lots of reasons for this, one of them being that both China and India now have a very large and more demanding middle class who are already starting to eat meat big time.

Large scale meat production in the US will probably only benefit from this new market.

The rest of us are either going to have to pay a great deal more for our food or else turn veggie and try to cut the cost that way.

Answer 24

Yes.  Factories are not easy to set up so some sort of farm would be very useful for those wanting to set up in business.

Answer 25

Not at all! Factory farming is very cruel to animals and in humane! To learn more about this issue and issues like these i suggest you check out http://www.humanteen.org. It has a lot of awesome info and ways you can get involved! Stop factory farming now!!!

Answer 26

sure,why not.

Answer 27

yes.  If we do not use efficient methods of raising food we will run out of our food supply.  Currently the minimal amount you pay for food will not pay the costs of production.  You pay more for the wrapper on a loaf of bread than you pay for the wheat in that loaf of bread.  you might research a concept called "parity" which compares the relative value of produce at the farm gate.  It is less than 50% on almost all commodities.  The farmer has no choice but to farm the way he does and then he will probably not survive and then you can starve to death.