Factory farms ( pg. 2)

    • What are the health ramifications of modern day factory farming methods?
    • 25 million lbs antibiotics/year are given to animals to promote their growth and counteract the unsanitary and unnatural conditions of factory farms
    • Drug - resistant infections, some fatal, are increasing in people due to this overuse of antibiotics
    • Extreme confinement and increased levels of production breeds contaminants such as E.coli and salmonella
    • According to the FDA, 5000 deaths and 76 million cases of food - borne illnesses occur each year
    • The USDA estimates that 70% of all food - borne illness in the United States can be traced to meat
    • Grace Factory Farm Project

     

    • What are the environmental impacts of factory farming?
    • The US Environmental Protectin Agency blames current farming parctices for 70% of the pollution in the nations's rivers and streams. The agency reports that runoff of chemicals, silt, and animal waste from US farmland has polluted more that 173,000 miles of waterways.
    • In 1995, 25 million gallons of animal waste spilled from an eight - acre lagoon into North Carolina's New River, killing 10 million fish and closing 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shell fishing
    • Grace Factory Farm Project
    • Air pollution
    • Arable top soil erosion

     

    • Do factory farms pose a threat to family farms?
    • Yes. Factory farms are quickly taking over the livestock industy. In the poultry industry, 98% of all poultry is produced by huge corporations, forcing out family farms
    • Larg farms receive nearly twice as much in government payments as do small farms.
    • 2% of farms produce 50% of agricultural product
    • Grace Factory Farm Project
    • In 62 years 4.5 million farmers lost their livelihood

     

    • What is the problem with grain feedlots?
    • Ruminants were created to eat grass! They then turn this green sunlight into a wholesome and delicious food for human consumption
    • Grain - feeding livestock consumes resources far out of proportion to the yield, accelerates soil erosion, impacts world food supply and poverty, and adversely affects the health of both the livestock and the consumer.