We live in a world where the population grows each day and the needs of an ever-growing world population increase as well. As a result of this growth the requirements to support, as well as to properly plan for future needs, cause one to consider the natural resources necessary to facilitate the essential support of human food requirements. As population increases and land availability decreases, we have to ask the question as to "how" we manufacture and provide food for so many lives. One solution brought forward was the idea of factory farming where animal production was maximized using a host of techniques. Overcrowding, diet modifications by the introduction of artificial hormones, and genetic tampering seem to answer the cry of empty mouths. However, although we have begun to produce more food with less, the question must be asked as to the "cost" or standard by which we as a human race we operate food production. The issue at hand is the right and proper treatment of animals and the standards health and sanitation needed in today's production requirements. As one taught to respect all life and the economy, or order in which they exist, factory farming is cruel and an inhumane treatment of a living creature whose life is nothing more than a means to an end. This writer will consider the impact that factory farming has had on political, social-economic, and environmental influences and the need for a more ethical-based approached in solving our world's food production requirements.

The concept of factory farming began back in the early 50's as a result of the success of modern industrialization. Manufacturing techniques became automated, process streamlined with increased efficiency, and the introduction of new materials created by synthetic process evolved in the United States and worldwide. The industrial growth stimulated the economy by providing jobs for mass production, created new communities where land was developed for production needs, and fostered trade outside of the community. In a similar fashion factory farming was developed to produce greater amounts of food in a streamlined production model.  Far from the flowing green pastures as advertised on television, animals are herded into smaller areas of cramped containment subject to abuse, neglect, and proper care all the while being feed food that has been infused with hormones and synthetic proteins to stimulate accelerated muscle production. Sadly, the feeble bones and weakened heart give way in order for more meat to be produced for meat-hungering economy. These farms of mass production have been challenged by political, socio-economic and environmental influences that makes one consider the heart of the matter, i.e., the right and proper treatment of animals regardless of their end.

Political bearing on factory farming seems to be more of a legal dispute that allows large corporations to be the instrument of the government's ability to provide food for its citizens. There are many companies throughout the world that devote millions of dollars to develop additives and hormones that stimulate rapid muscle growth and development and a very short period of time. "Since the 1950's, antibiotics have been used on factory farms to increase the rate of growth in animals. Today, an estimated 70 percent of the antibiotics used in the U.S. are given to farm animals for non-therapeutic purposes." (Farm Sanctuary) These non-therapeutic purposes produce more meat per animals thus increasing the supply for the food at an acceptable demand rate. Government funded research into viable alternatives for food production has turned a blind eye to not only the animals in which it is used but also to the consumers and environments in which the government was meant to serve. Ethical standards should be present from start to finish when considering use of money lent to companies that develop and produce animal dietary feeds and supplements.

Another aspect of the political influence are the loose regulations as to the standards of factory farming. There are minimal or no limitations regarding the housing and boarding of animals for a specific space, mutilations and immediate waste disposal of animal excrement. As an example of a factory farm, "The fate of those chickens selected to provide meat is little better. As many as 50,000 or more are crammed into a single shed to stand in their own excreta for the six weeks of their obscenely short lives." (Waddle, Tony). Pork production, likewise is a further example of a needed regulated environment: "What sane person would look at highly-intelligent animals such as pigs and force them into crowded, concrete cells? No bedding, no enrichment, filth and squalor and absolutely nothing to do - unable to fulfil even their most basic natural instincts. And as a bonus, cut off their tails and crush their teeth without anesthetic in an attempt to control the resulting aggression. A special barbarity is reserved for sows - female breeding pigs. Until recently they spent their entire lives encased in metal - narrow crates little wider then their bodies, ensuring they could never turn around or lie down properly. In Britain, continual campaigning has led to the abolition of these stalls while the sows are pregnant. They have been substituted with the same barren, concrete filth that meat pigs endure. But for 70 days a year, they are still confined in metal farrowing crates while they deliver and suckle their annual 2.5 litters. No wonder they go mad, gnawing at their bars in the bleak and desolate despair of mental collapse." (Waddle, Tony)

Many may argue that too much governmental oversite and control is a hindrance to economic growth and development however the role of legislation is to create laws for the goodwill and protection of the state. The state includes the natural resources the state oversees and administers to. Laws that have regard to the natural quality of life first protect human kind, the animal kingdom and finally plant life. However, "The U.S. has no federal laws protecting farm animals while they're actually on the farms where they are raised. Two federal laws cover farm animals during transport and slaughter, but tragically, all poultry species are excluded, making these protections inapplicable to 95% of land animals killed for food. The majority of U.S. states expressly exempt farm animals, or certain farming practices, from their anti-cruelty provisions, making it nearly impossible to provide even meager protections. (ASPCA) As animals are no moral entities, their life is a life that should be treated with respect and humane handling.

The socio-economic impact of factory farming seems bright on the surface yet dismal when considering the "cost" necessary to achieve this success. Pro-factory farming supporters rest on the fact that greater returns exist with less. However, this seems to be convoluted and deceptive. Before we can really grasp the bigger picture, the social and economic influences must be examined independently before being considered as a whole. Factory farming, by concept must originate in a place that can support the operation in both start up and continued manufacturing. When a food factory starts up, land is purchased and developed with the promoted idea that the local economy will be the direct beneficiaries of growth and prosperity. Initial impact is the purchase of local commodities such as timber, concrete, aggregate, and building supplies for offices, animal pens, slaughter, and environmental waste control. Sadly, a local community can only support so much that the factory farm must resort to outside support " ...  {factory farms} typically purchase everything from outside of the region while paying their workers a very low wage. Because local residents are rarely willing to work for the dismal pay CAFOs offer, these facilities encourage low-wage workers to move into communities. Consequently, CAFOs provide little to no stimulus for local economies, while imposing prohibitive costs." (SRA project) So, after the initial stimulus a local community cannot continue to support the factory farm without the assistance of outside labor and natural resources. The local economy is bogged down with the influx of cheap labor, low wages, and the need for outside commerce. The days of self-sustained farming communities vanish in the sounds of overcrowding animal pens and the stench of the grounds around them. And statistical data supports this decline as according to the Department of Census of Agriculture. During the 70's there were approximately 900,000 farms in the US and by the end of the century there were only 139,000 farmers accounted. Likewise, from1969 and 1992 producers selling 1000 hogs annually (small local farmers) decline 73 percent while factory farms selling more than 1000 heads annually rose by over thirty-two percent. (Organic Consumer) Small business is being snuffed out by mass production and industrial efficiency. These statistics beg further examination as to how this decline has come forth and the why the economic prosperity has occurred at these small traditional farm's expense.  A 2003 survey of rural towns indicated that the construction of pig factory farm in their area was less desirable to them than that of a prison, a solid waste landfill, a slaughter plant, or a sewage treatment plant. 

Money is best made when the expense is to produce the good is exceeded. Basic economic teaches that profit occurs best when demand is high and costs to produce a good are low. So, the premise of factory farming is to supply the greatest amount meat, for example, from an individual unit (animal) possible. In order to do this, feeds are modified with hormones and anti-biotics which stimulate rapid muscular growth and development in a compressed period of time. More product is readily available for and ever demanding market. "Fifty million pounds of antibiotics are produced in the United States each year of which twenty million pounds are given to animals of which 80% (16 million pounds) is used on livestock merely to promote more rapid growth. The remaining 20 percent is used to help control disease under such tightly confined conditions, including anemia, influenza, intestinal diseases, mastitis, metritis orthostatis, and pneumonia."  (Organic Consumer) So animals are fed modified grains enhanced with antibiotics, hormones and chemical additives such as gasoline and petroleum derivatives in order achieve greater mass, thus greater profit per "unit". 

The effects of these drugs and hormones are devastating on these animals. Animals develop at such a rapid rate that their skeletal systems cannot support the rapid growth, their bodies produce pathogens that are quite often resistant to human antibiotics (such as H1N1 Swine flu virus) and their excrement affects their natural living conditions. Side effects of these drugs often require factory farmers to mutilate and disfigure the animals in order to prevent hostilities while penned. "Studies have consistently shown that approximately 26-30% of broiler chickens suffer from difficulty walking because their skeletons have trouble supporting their rapidly growing bodies. This can also lead to deformities and lameness." (Farm Sanctuary) With very little legislation affecting the protocol of the care of the animals and the dismal affect that factory farming has on the local community as well as the commodity the farm is promoting, the final aspect we will examine is the dismal effect that factory farming has on the environment. This final aspect must be considered when contemplating a health world view on human treatment of animals when used as food sources. Factory farming for the most part has had a negative impact on the surrounding environment in particular and the regional eco-system as a whole. With numerous loop-holes in legislation regulating waste management statistics show that excrement and dung, which produce methane and contaminated sewage (largely in part to the enhanced diet of animals) are polluting our natural sources. For example, "in order to prevent the spread of disease in the crowded filthy conditions of confinement operations, and to promote faster growth, produces feed farm animals a number of antibiotics. Upwards of 75 percent of the antibiotics fed to farm animals end up undigested in their urine and manure." (Farm Sanctuary) Because of this, humans are getting sick due to the pollutants in our water ways. Not only are waterways being contaminated but our air quality is diminished as well. Factory farms producing chickens, pork, and cattle deal with every increasing methane emission as well as increased ammonia concentrations in both water and air mediums. The USDA reports that animals in the US meat industry produce 61 million tons of waste each year, which is 130 times the volume of human waste  --  or five tons for every US citizen." (Organic consumer) The net effect of the pollutants is death in the ecosystems, human illness due to toxins present in animal products, and biological impact not yet thoroughly understood. 

This paper has only scratched the surface of the many influences of factory farming in our political, social, economic, and environmental arenas. We have demonstrated that government oversite is minimal, social impact is for the most part dismal, economically the cost for consumption has at a greater cost the quality of life of the animal providing the commodity, and the environmental footprint is less than healthy. These events have occurred at the expense of a greater influence on factory farming: a lack of a proper ethical approach in developing advanced food production methods.

I was raised in a home that taught the ultimate work of man was to exercise godly and proper dominion over that which was created. Respect was given to all living creatures, and to the human race. Second, I was taught that righteous men have regard for the beast in so much that as a food source respect to the well-being and care of the animal was important as it was right. Fundamentally speaking, a heartless practice and philosophy has emerged in agriculture that has debased the animal of necessity to a beast worthy of minimal or no respect. Laws are no where to be found that protect the decent treatment of an animal we deem necessary to supply our needs. Economics prostitute the natural ability of an animal to produce in a manner that creation originally intended a hormone and preservative free life. Factory farms herd animals unnaturally and foster an environment that concentrates environmental impact instead of proportional dispersing in an eco-friendly manner. In a matter of speaking, we have thrown the baby out with the bath water: I.e., we have lost sight in the proper treatment of animals even though their estate was created to serve our needs and interest. Legislation must be renewed that reflects that mankind is the higher more noble creation in order and that laws reflect noble consideration to the lesser created in their service to man's end. Subsequently, when a uniformed consideration is set forth towards animals of agriculture, the moral battles will ensue to promote economic prosperity that maximizes profits without expensing the natural created being of the animal being farmed. Finally, as we consider the environment in light of a proper ethical respect of the animal, when we humanly treat these animals we will see that failure to respect their natural waste products is a failure to respect ourselves and the eco-system we exist. If we as humans fail to grasp these ideas, then, ironically, the paralysis of our thinking is no better than the barbaric practices and outcomes set forth in this paper.
