What are the good sides of factory farming and the bad?

Answer 1

The good things include the efficiency, more animals in a smaller space, their waste is collected so it is easier to process, the amount of food they eat is easier to control, their weight gain is easier to measure and keep track of, there is less chance of predators getting them.

The bad things include that they are more prone to get diseases so they are often given high doses of antibiotics, living in small spaces increases the stress on the individual animals, since they can raise more animals in a small area, there is more waste to deal with.

Answer 2

Good
factory farms create economies of scale due to their size, thus costs of production can be lower, greater buying power, greater lobbying potential, advantage in marketing products

Bad
factory farms are generally more specialized toward producing one commodity thus less resistant to environmental pressures, more corporate in structure, thus less capable at adopting innovation, kill small towns; buying inputs from a more centralized sources increases unemployment and kills small business, net decrease on margin/profit on agricultural commodities; limited demand elasticity on food means that increasing food supply decreases prices thus giving those with economies of scale an advantage and the biggest disadvantage is that:

most agricultural commodity markets are cyclical, meaning some years you don't make money (or lose) and other years you make good money. Farmers know this and always put something away to get through the lean years, but, corporate shareholders expect to receive dividends, profit, and most corporates expect to increase profits year by year and seldom set enough aside to get through the rough times. Thus, many corporate farms can't pay the bills in the lean times and go down, often in a huge way taking many of their suppliers with them.

Answer 3

What you refer to as a factory farm is called a "CAFO" or concentrated animal feeding operation. These type of operations can produce large numbers of animals depending on the financial aspects of the farmer. With 99% of the public not wanting to get their hands dirty raising the food they consume, the farmers have been forced to increase the size of their operations to remain profitable against the corporate industries that have moved into the area of food production. Large operations are very efficient and produce large amounts of healthy food. Animals are rarely mistreated, but it can happen, as humans are vulnerable to mistakes regardless of the industry they work in. Antibiotics are used at low levels in hogs and chickens to maintain a healthy pig or chicken. In dairy cattle antibiotics are only used when required to treat a specific ailment, not on a continual basis. We are assured to have some of the lowest food costs in the world based on our incomes.

The downside to large farm operations is that the small family farm is challenged to exist in these challenging financial times. The farmer is constantly charged more for their input costs due to corporate greed and this will ruin the family farm.

The bad

Answer 4

The plus side of factory farming is more output.

The bad side is the animals that do not graze are missing certain nutrients that make humans healthier. European cows have a certain mineral that humans need to not get fat.

The animals that graze are healthier.

Answer 5

factory farming increases the intensity of production, i.e. more efficient use of land.

however, factory farming is also akin to animal abuse.

Answer 6

Good

Has been pointed out by several others

It creates an economy of scale, like walmart. Cheaper production, large inventory movement can create big profit.

It also allows a very very small number of people to produce enough food to feed the majority of our population

It has funded alot of research into crop and animal breeding to create animals and crops that mature and gain weight faster and etc. Example is the cornish rock hybrid which grows to slaughter weight in just 5-6 weeks.


Bad

Unfortunately the bad greatly outweighs the good.

Creates major pollution by concentrating the waste of several thousand animals on just a few acres which leads to water and local air pollution. Someone earlier actually listed this as good in an answer because "it makes it easier to process" is laughable. Obviously that person has never actually been to a CAFO. They just pool it into lagoons where it eventually leaks into the local water supply. There is no "treatment" or "processing" going on.

It has recreated serfdom through monopolies. Large corporations own such a large percentage of the product from growing to packaging that individual farmers are basically forced into a situation very similar to serfdom. They borrow around 500,000 to build a CAFO per the corps specs then they raise the animals (which are owned by the corp) and get paid a percentage set by the corp. The farmers take responsibility for any losses and in most cases lose control of the land they own. The percentage they make usually equates to around 8-10 dollars per hour work.

In CAFOs meat quality is of little concern. Keeping animals in such close confinement breeds dieses and pests which in turn forces them to pump them full of antibiotics and pesticides. They are pumped full of growth hormones to achieve faster growth. All of these chemicals find their way into the waste and into your plate.

It creates a powerful lobby group that basically steers the USDA into implementing rules that force small farmers out of business. It has also steered the USDA into creating inspection and grading regulations that heavily favor big business. Example. Farmer Joe raises a steer in a pasture on native grasses in spring summer and fall and feeds hay in the winter. He doesnt need inject it with multi vaccines or pesticides because his steer has plenty of room and fresh pasture so it doesnt stand around in its own waste or eat and drink its own waste. Farmer Joe's steer is raised on a cows natural diet (grasses) so it gets better nutrients and is in good health. Now lets say Farmer Joe gets his steer slaughtered and a USDA inspector grades the meat and at the same time grades a typical CAFO steer. Even though anyone in there right mind would select a steak from Farmer Joe's steer over the CAFO steer because it is leaner, has many more vitamins and minerals, and isnt laden with anti-biotics and growth hormones, guess which one gets the higher grade? Thats right the CAFO steer does because the USDA has sold out to big business.

It is a major contributor to pollution in indirect ways also by creating huge shipments of grain to the CAFO. Then the animals get shipped to a packing plant. Then the meat gets shipped to your grocery store. Not to mention all the pollution that goes into raising the grain needed to feed the animals which wouldnt be needed if they were pastured.

While I am no animal activist by any stretch, I hunt and fish and will rarely pass up a rare steak, it is clear just from looking at pictures that CAFOs are inhumane. It is animal cruelty plain and simple. If for some reason the available pictures dont convince you then I urge you to go visit one and you will quickly come to the decision that its not right. Having been to a few myself it is easy to see how a misguided person could quickly become a vegan tree hugger after visiting one.

Well that covers the major points and I guess you can see from my answers that I dont like CAFOs and that obviously biases my opinion but everything I pointed out is fact. People need to realize every time they buy meat at the nearest chain grocery store they are supporting CAFOs. There are alternatives in every city, you just need to spend the time and effort to locate them, unless of course what you eat isnt that important to you.