Beyond Factory Farming - 2009

Factory farming of animals for food is resource-hungry and carbon-intensive. A creation of the second half of the 20^th century in the developed world, it depends on high inputs of global natural resources – energy, water and land. Sixty billion animals (poultry and mammals) are used to produce food annually1and over 50% of pigmeat and 70% of chickenmeat is already industrially produced.2, 3 Industrial systems have been increasing at six times the rate of traditional mixed farming systems.4 Policymakers now predict that meat production will double by 2050, potentially doubling the number of animals used to 120 billion a year. The planet will not be able to sustain these huge numbers of livestock nor these methods.