Intensive farming, also referred to as industrial animal agriculture or factory farming, is a system of raising animals using intensive ‘production line' methods that maximize the amount of meat produced, while minimizing costs. Industrial animal agriculture is characterized by high stocking densities and close confinement, forced growth rates, high mechanization and low labor requirements. Factory farming not only promotes institutionalized animal cruelty, it also causes massive environmental destruction, poses serious risks to human health, and contributes to rising poverty levels.

Animal Welfare

The majority of farm animals in the United States are reared intensively in battery cages, overcrowded chicken sheds, sow crates, zero-grazing dairy systems, cattle feedlots or veal crates. The animals are forced to grow super-fast, pushed to their physical limits in the quest for more cheap meat, milk or eggs. At the end of their brief lives, millions of animals are transported over great distances in terrible conditions, only to be slaughtered at the journey's end.

Farm animals are sentient beings, capable of feeling pain and suffering. Yet industrialized agriculture treats them as little more than meat-, egg-, and milk-making machines. Sadly, there is no federal law in the United States that protects farm animals from cruelty, no matter how abusive. The welfare of animals often loses out to the economic interests of factory farmers. 

Environmental Impacts

Intensive animal agriculture is more devastating to the natural environment than any other human activity. According to a new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, animal agriculture generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all transportation vehicles combined.

In traditional farming, animals such as pigs, chickens and cows live in much smaller groups than they do on factory farms. They have space to move around, and their manure is recycled as a fertilizer or source of fuel. But when animals are kept together in unnaturally large numbers, the amount of waste they produce can become an environmental health problem which is dangerous both for the animals and for people living near the farms. Mismanagement of manure leads to pollution of surface water, ground water and soils.

Read WSPA’s report: Eating our Future: The environmental impact of industrial animal agriculture (PDF document) >>

Human Health Impacts

The risks to human health from intensive farming are well-documented and relatively well-known in the developing world. Whereas in the past the main causes of disease were infections and hunger, now people are suffering from chronic diseases that are connected with eating too much of the wrong sorts of food. A typical American diet today is dominated by animal products which are laden with saturated fat, cholesterol, and hormones. These are diets that promote obesity, diabetes, several forms of cancer, and other chronic diseases that kill nearly 1.4 million Americans annually.

Another pressing public health concern caused by industrial animal production is antibiotic resistance. Animals kept on industrial farms are given large amounts of antibiotics to treat diseases and promote growth. It's estimated that close to 70% of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used for farm animals. The overuse of antibiotics in farm animals has been related to a rise in antibiotic resistant bacteria, making it harder to fight diseases among both animals and humans alike.

Read WSPA's report: Industrial Animal Agriculture: The Next Global Health Crisis? (PDF document)

Poverty

Worldwide, nearly a billion people live in severe poverty and suffer with daily hunger and deprivation. Intensive farming used to be promoted as one means of alleviating hunger, as it can provide a cheap and plentiful source of protein. In recent years, however, support for intensive farming has faded significantly due to new information highlighting the long-term problems inherent to these systems.

As intensive farms are highly mechanized – requiring little manual labor, their introduction into rural areas tends to reduce rural employment. In the UK and the US, the number of farmers has been dramatically reduced. In the US, for example, the number of farm workers has dropped 80% over the past 50 years. In developing countries, intensive farming obstructs poverty elimination by driving local farmers out of business.

Read WSPA's report: Industrial Animal Agriculture: Part of the Poverty Problem.
(PDF document)

Despite the overwhelming presence of factory farms in America, viable alternative systems do exist and they are gaining in popularity.

Farmers using alternative systems aim to keep animals in conditions that are closer to their natural environment and natural behavior patterns. They often use more traditional breeds of animal that have better resistance to disease and to parasites. They do not allow the routine use of drugs such as antibiotics and hormones to control infection and to boost productivity. The animals grow more slowly and have longer and more natural lives.

Food produced more humanely in this way can be safer for humans, better for the environment and kinder to the animals.

Read WSPA's report: Practical Alternatives to Industrial Animal Farming in Latin America (PDF document)

Model Farm Project

In partnership with Food Animal Initiative, the WSPA has set up the Model Farm Project, which aims to establish an international network of demonstration farms. These show that more humane and sustainable farming is a practical and viable reality.

On its working farm in the United Kingdom, FAI has developed reliable and cost effective ways to produce high quality meat and eggs humanely, as audited by Oxford University researchers – and still make a profit for farmers.

Learn more about WSPA's Model Farm Project >>

Read about humane food choices >> 

Back to Farm Animal Welfare page >> 

Farm Animal Welfare Glossary of Terms >>