Factory Farming: A Recipe for Disaster for Animals & Our Planet

At any given moment, there are over 1.6 billion chickens, pigs, cows and other animals being raised for food across the United States, and over 10 billion farm animals are slaughtered annually. These animals are overwhelmingly raised on what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the agriculture industry call Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). We call them factory farms. Each CAFO may hold tens or even hundreds of thousands of animals sealed inside in extremely crowded conditions.

In addition to causing immense animal suffering, raising this many animals in these conditions does enormous environmental damage. Globally, animal agriculture represents 14.5% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. While much discussion is devoted to methane from cows, the massive feed-crop production and manure associated with all CAFOs—cattle, pork and poultry—are significant contributors to air and water pollution as well as climate-warming emissions.

  • In the U.S., animals on CAFOs produce an estimated 885 billion pounds of manure each year, none of which is treated or regulated by a government agency.
  • Nearly 50% of corn and 70% of soy grown in the U.S. is produced to feed animals raised in CAFOs. Those crops consume vast quantities of water and require enormous amounts of fossil fuels and pesticides, all of which adds to the environmental footprint of the final product.

Despite its heavy environmental impact, industrial animal agriculture is largely exempted from federal and state air and water pollution regulations that apply to other major industries, just as it is exempt from almost all state and federal animal-protection laws.

With the evidence mounting about this industry’s cruelty and its connection to climate change, the ASPCA is working alongside environmental advocates to replace factory farming with higher-welfare, pasture-based animal farming and more plant-based alternatives. Learn more:

The Water, Air and Climate Impacts of Factory Farming

The Environmental Impacts of Plant-based Food

There is no question that industrial production of meat, eggs and dairy take a huge toll on animals, the environment and communities near these facilities. On top of subjecting animals to suffering and endangering our health, these industries require a staggering amount of our finite resources and produce climate-warming gases. Yet Americans are eating record amounts of animal products—an annual average of 138.4 pounds of red meat and poultry per person—the vast majority of which is from CAFOs. This is simply not sustainable. It is also not feasible or even environmentally beneficial to take all of the billions of animals currently housed in CAFOs and move them to pasture.

Meanwhile, resource use and greenhouse gas emissions from production of plant-based food is significantly lower than those from animal-based foods. Despite a few areas where plant-based products have a heavier water or land footprint, almost all of the leading ingredients in plant-based products consume significantly less land and water and have greatly reduced greenhouse gas emissions: 29% compared to 57% for conventional animal products.

Nearly one in four Americans (23%) said they were trying to eat less meat in 2019, and that number has continued to climb in later surveys.

Reducing animal products can range from cutting out meat for one or more days a week, going plant-based for breakfast and lunch, or opting for smaller portions of animal products. Increasing plants in one’s diet may mean swapping in some of the new products designed to mimic meat, eggs or dairy, or it may mean increasing beans, legumes, mushrooms and other hearty, nutrient-dense plant foods.

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The Environmental Benefits of Pasture-Based Foods

Raising animals indoors in intensive confinement is extremely harmful to animals and our environment. Plant-based food can dramatically reduce those harms. But given that the majority of people will continue to eat meat, eggs or dairy, is there a form of animal agriculture that is better for animals and our environment?

Industry groups are focused on technologies and feed additives that marginally reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but this approach does not address the underlying cause of the pollution and environmental damage, not to mention intense animal suffering. Pasture-raising animals, on the other hand, addresses that imbalance: there are fewer animals, animals are raised outdoors at densities that meet the land’s carrying capacity, more manure is spread across the land and, in the case of grazing animals, there is less reliance on feed crops.

While raising animals on well-managed pastures can improve water quality and reduce water demand, improve soil health and even mitigate climate impacts, this land- and time-intensive approach to animal agriculture also has some real environmental limits. To achieve the joint animal and environmental benefits of pasture-based farming, we must raise significantly fewer animals annually, which means reducing consumption of animal products.

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Take Action: How You Can Protect Animals & The Environment

Researchers, farmers and advocates continue to debate the comparative environmental and animal benefits of eating plant-based foods versus more humane, pasture-based animal products. The truth is, either or any combination of these two approaches can spare farmed animals from the suffering they endure now on factory farms and reduce our individual dietary impact on the environment. What matters most is that we take some action. It’s not all or nothing, but for animals and the environment it’s urgent that we each do something. 

Two actions you can take today to move our food system away from factory farming and toward more plant- and pasture-based foods:

  1. Contact your members of Congress and urge them to include measures that protect farm animals and rein in industrial farming’s negative impacts on the environment in the Farm Bill.
  2. Try the Factory Farm Detox to learn how to shop for more plant-based and welfare-certified, pasture-raised animal products. Sign up to receive a free list of more-humane products and farms and other helpful resources.


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