TALKING POINTS: Industrialized Meat Production

What are CAFOs? Confined or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations abbreviated as CAFOs are larger, specialized meat production operations. CAFOs produce meat en masse through confinement animals in a concentrated, crowded environment and have been thus known to have poor health consequences for the animals, humans who consume their products and the environment. CAFOs have been known to produce (and not effectively dispose of) up to 500 million tons of animal waste per year. However, they do have a high capacity for meat product output, but at what cost?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/07/07/muckraker/index_np.html

Would a shift to smaller scale meat production effect food security? There are concerns that downsizing meat production would have a detrimental effect on food supplies in the United States. However, putting food production in corporate control instead of at a small scale farm level could make food production profit driven at the cost of human health and animal treatment. Meat quality could take a back seat to meat production capacity. Are CAFO’s properly regulated by governmental oversight, or are they allowed to pollute and provide lower quality meat because of the volume of meat they produce?

http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd/papers/Kellogg-Taho-CAFOs.htm

How does industrialized meat production effect the environment? There have been many examples of poor environmental quality associated with industrialized meat production. Manure waste from factory farms is often not monitored and regulated, even though the Clean Water Act considers CAFOs a point source for pollution. One example is that in 1995, 25 million gallons of hog waste spilled from an 8-acre lagoon into a river in the United States, killing 10 million fish.

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1495

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=3372

How are CAFOs different in their treatment of animals? Animals raised in CAFOs are confined, fed unhealthy feed and shot up with antibiotics. The high antibiotic use compensates for the unsanitary conditions that the animals must endure in CAFOs. Some smaller family farms have joined cooperatives to maintain their economic viability while also providing a healthier and more humane lifestyle for their livestock, which translates into the quality of the meat they produce. Is it appropriate to sacrifice compassionate treatment of animals for faster meat production?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/interviews/pollan.html

Are antibiotics losing their efficiency/effectiveness because of cheap meat?U.S. are fed to livestock to promote growth and compensate for the unsanitary conditions associated with industrial meat production. By volume, livestock in the U.S. consume eight times more antibiotics than humans do. Is there a link between eating meat that is heavily laden with antibiotics and a decrease in antibiotic effectiveness in humans? Approximately 70 percent of all antibiotics in the

http://www.keepantibioticsworking.com/new/resources_library.cfm?refID=37751

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/07/01_pollan.shtml

Is it necessary for farmers to change to CAFO-style production to survive economically in the future? Some claim that CAFOs are economically more efficient and the future of farming in America. Others believe the cost of CAFOs to human health, meat quality and animal treatment are not worth the potential profit. The cost of waste disposal, the potential for animal diseases to spread and the pollution that is associated with large scale operations are concerns that should be considered by large scale CAFO operators. Is it more efficient to have CAFOs in lieu of family farm cooperatives? How have smaller scale farms collaborated to become more efficient and open up their products to a wider market? How has their product’s quality and their farm’s commitment to sustainable farming practices increased their marketability?

http://www.patchworkfamilyfarms.org/ogs.html

http://www.newseasonsmarket.com/

Is there a consumer led demand for naturally raised “organic” meat? It may be too expensive for many meat eaters to afford naturally raised pork or grass-fed beef. However, there has been an increased consumer demand for accountability concerning where food is from and how it is produced. Will an increased consumer demand require large scale operators to change their production procedures? How would this effect the price of meat? What’s out on the market now as an alternative to CAFOs and industrialized meat production?

http://www.applegatefarms.com

http://www.betterpork.com/edenfarms/edenfarms/index.htm

http://www.goodnatured.net/