Putting Meat On The Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production In America

Generated Summary

This report, “Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America,” is the result of a two-year study funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and conducted through a grant to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study examines the impacts of Industrial Farm Animal Production (IFAP) on public health, the environment, animal welfare, and rural communities. The study used a multi-method approach, including testimony from stakeholders and experts, technical reports, and site visits to various operations across the U.S. The report’s aim is to provide recommendations for improving the sustainability of animal agriculture. The study focuses on the transformation of animal agriculture over the past 50 years, from traditional family farms to concentrated systems, and the resulting problems. The analysis covers antibiotic resistance, air and water pollution, animal welfare concerns, and the economic and social shifts in farming regions. The report’s recommendations address issues such as antibiotic use, disease monitoring, waste regulation, and the phasing out of intensive confinement practices.

Key Findings & Statistics

• The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production heard approximately 54 hours of testimony from stakeholders and experts.
• While approximately the same number of swine are raised now as in 1950, it is done on significantly fewer and far larger farms, with dramatically fewer farm workers.
• The annual production of manure produced by animal confinement facilities exceeds that produced by humans by at least three times.
• Greenhouse gas emissions from all livestock operations, including IFAP facilities, account for 18 percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, exceeding the emissions caused from the transportation sector.
• The ratio of fossil fuel energy inputs per unit of food energy produced averages 3:1 for all US agricultural products combined; for industrially produced meat products, the ratio can be as high as 35:1.
• Reports on the amount of antibiotics used in animals range from 17.8 to 24.6 million pounds per year.
• The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that 70% of the antibiotics used in the United States annually are used in farm animals.

Other Important Findings

• IFAP facilities contribute to antimicrobial resistance, pose hazards to workers and neighbors, and can spread disease.
• Workers in and neighbors of IFAP facilities experience high levels of respiratory problems, including asthma.
• The IFAP system concentrates economic power in the hands of large companies, leading to issues for farmers and rural communities.
• The streamlined process of raising animals includes standardized feed, genetic selection, and mechanization, leading to uniform products but unintended consequences.
• The transformation of animal agriculture has been largely unnoticed by many Americans.
• Intensive confinement production creates problems such as increased antibiotic-resistant bacteria, air and water contamination, animal welfare issues, and shifts in the social structure and economy of farming regions.
• IFAP leads to the spread of diseases, and workers can be a bridging population transmitting animal-borne diseases to a wider population.
• The use of antibiotics in IFAP operations contributes to the growing pool of antimicrobial resistance.
• The health risks from IFAP facilities extend to those engaged directly in livestock production and those involved in support services.
• IFAP not only causes concerns about the health of the animals present, but the basic production model creates concerns with respect to human health.
• IFAP requires a large amount of water for irrigation of animal feed crops, and for cleaning of many buildings and waste management systems, which depletes groundwater resources.
• IFAP is extremely energy-intensive and requires large inputs of fossil fuels, industrial fertilizers, and other synthetic chemicals.
• The Commission recommends the phase-out, within ten years, of all intensive confinement systems that restrict natural movement and normal behaviors.
• The Commission recommends the end to force-feeding of fowl to produce foie gras, tail docking of dairy cattle, and forced molting of laying hens by feed removal.
• The Commission recommends the vigorous enforcement of current federal antitrust laws to restore competition in the farm animal market.

Limitations Noted in the Document

• The report does not provide specific details on the methodologies used to collect and analyze the data from testimonies, site visits, and technical reports.
• The report focuses on the problems created by IFAP without giving equal weight to the benefits.
• The analysis is primarily focused on issues in the United States, and may not be fully generalizable to other regions with different agricultural practices or regulations.
• The report acknowledges that the recommendations may add new costs to animal production processes, but does not fully explore the economic implications of these added costs.
• The report notes the difficulty in measuring the percentage of resistant infections in humans that are caused by antimicrobial use in agriculture.
• The report’s conclusions rely on an understanding of the industry’s economics, and the complexities of the regulatory framework, which may be limited.

Conclusion

The “Putting Meat on the Table” report concludes that IFAP systems are largely unregulated and that many common practices threaten public health, the environment, animal health and well-being, and rural communities. The Commission’s recommendations address these concerns through a series of actions. These include phasing out and banning non-therapeutic use of antimicrobials in food animal production, improving disease monitoring and tracking through a 48-hour track back system, improving IFAP regulation through zoning, siting, and waste handling. The report recommends the phase-out of intensive confinement systems that restrict natural movement and behavior, emphasizing the ethical treatment of animals. It calls for increasing competition in the livestock market by enforcing antitrust laws. The Commission recognizes the need for independent funding to address the problems resulting from IFAP, especially as they relate to the environment, public health, animal welfare, and community issues. The report asserts that the nation’s demand for food can be met while addressing the issues of IFAP. The Commission believes that there are practical solutions to these problems that can start immediately to ensure that the productivity of farm animal production can be maintained well into the future, while transitioning to more sustainable systems, the report emphasizes. The recommendations include focusing on appropriate regulation of IFAP facilities in order to prevent further degradation of air, water, and soils, and to minimize the impact on adjacent communities.