Danielle Nierenberg
Worldwide, an estimated 258 million tons of meat were produced in 2004, up 2 percent over 2003. (See Figure 2-1, p. 25.) Global meat production has increased more than fivefold since 1950 and more than doubled since the 1970s. Industrial farming systems today generate 74 percent of the world’s poultry products, 50 percent of all pork, 43 percent of beef, and 68 percent of eggs.
Everywhere it is introduced, factory farming creates ecological and public health disasters, from new animal and human diseases to air and water pollution to the loss of livestock genetic resources. Factory farms crowd hundreds of thousands of animals together with little natural light or fresh air, creating a ripe environment for breeding disease. Waste from the animals is collected in large lagoons where it can seep into nearby waterways, contaminate groundwater, and spread a sickening stench for miles. Workers in meat processing plants work long hours in miserable conditions and have among the highest accident rates in the United States. All of this is done with an eye towards minimizing costs and maximizing profits with little regard for human, environmental, or animal welfare.
Rethinking the global meat industry is not just about keeping factory farms safe from disease outbreaks and mitigating their environmental effects. The real challenge, and the real reward, will come from taking a different approach to the way we raise food. Reversing the factory farm tide will require thinking about farming systems as more than a source of economic wealth. We must recognize that preserving prosperous family farms and their landscapes and raising healthy and humanely treated animals are their own form of affluence.
Special Focus, China & India
Box 2-1: China: The World’s Leading Meat Producer and Consumer, p.26
Box 2-2: India Leads the World in Milk Production, p. 27
Danielle Nierenberg is a Research Associate at the Worldwatch Institute with expertise in agriculture, gender and population, and water and sanitation issues.