(05-01-2012, 08:57 PM)βαθμιαίος Wrote: I'm not downplaying them, but yes, I'm suggesting that things are not monolithically bad.
In the same way starvation isn't "monolithically bad"? If I am showing a video about the starvation problem in Africa, must I put in a disclaimer that children in the US are well-fed? Sorry, but I just don't understand the point of that.
from the Humane Society:
http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs...siness.pdf
Quote:Across the United States, nearly 10 billion land animals are raised and killed each year for meat, eggs, and milk.3,4
More than half of all confined farm animals by weight—54%—are concentrated in just 5% of the country‟s industrial animal production farms.5
The realities of today‟s animal agribusiness practices are a far cry from the ones embraced by the small, family farms that once supplied the marketplace. Industrialization and raising unprecedented numbers of farm animals have resulted in the intensive confinement of these chickens, pigs, turkeys, cattle, and other animals—and the intensive problems faced by those who must contend with the impacts of factory farming.
Replacing Family Farms
Factory farms have made it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for independent family farmers to survive as they are unable to compete against these massive corporate operations. Many once-independent farmers are resorting to contractual arrangements with large agribusiness corporations, 6raising the companies‟ animals until
slaughter. “Contract growing” now makes up much of the factory farming industry, particularly in the pig and poultry sectors. 6By 1999, contract production accounted for more than 60% of U.S. pig production and 35% of cattle production.7 Today, poultry production is now almost entirely contract-based.
Although the terms “factory farm,” “concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO),” and “animal feeding operation (AFO)” are often used interchangeably, “factory farm” is a general term that refers to industrial animal production facilities, while “AFO” and “CAFO” have precise legal
definitions. An AFO is a facility in which crops and vegetation are not sustained during the normal growing season, and land animals are confined for 45 days or more within a 12-month period.28,29
As described by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “AFOs congregate animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operations on a small land area.”30
The EPA estimates that there are approximately 450,000 AFOs in the United States.31
(05-01-2012, 08:57 PM)βαθμιαίος Wrote: I didn't say it mattered who did the filming, just that the reality may be less homogenous than the films portray.
I did a little research, to see if maybe you were right - maybe factory farming wasn't as widespread as I thought.
I discovered the opposite - it's much worse than I thought!
from http://www.farmforward.com/farming-forwa...ry-farming
Quote:Factory farms, also known as CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) or IFAP (Industrial Farm Animal Production) facilities,1 can house more than 125,000 animals2 under one roof and are designed to produce the highest possible output at the lowest possible cost to the operator. These farms and their associated industrial slaughterhouses produce “cheap” meat, eggs, and dairy by externalizing their costs. The costs to the public from the ecological damage and health problems created by factory farms are not considered any more than the law requires, and companies have often found it less expensive to pay fines than to alter their methods. For this reason, the true cost of meat is never reflected in the price consumers pay. Animal suffering is given no meaningful consideration except in a few idiosyncratic cases.
Factory farming now accounts for more than 99 percent of all farmed animals raised and slaughtered in the United States.3 (Virtually all seafood comes to us by way of industrial fishing or factory fish farms.)
Farmed animals are remarkable creatures who experience pleasure (pasture-raised pigs, for instance, are known to jump for joy)4 and have complex social structures (cows develop friendships over time and will sometimes hold grudges against other animals who treat them badly).5 The cheap animal products churned out by factory farms come at a high cost to the animals themselves (many are confined so intensively that they cannot turn around or stretch a wing).6 The structure of factory farming ensures that even the animals’ most fundamental needs—clean air, sunshine, freedom from chronic pain and illness—are denied them.
(05-01-2012, 08:57 PM)βαθμιαίος Wrote: I think we're all in favor of compassion for animals.
I don't get that at all from this thread.