Factory Farms
The Ecological Consequences of Factory Farming
Eating meat causes global suffering
World hunger
- 20 billion "slaughter animals" live on our planet. What do they eat? 40% of the worldwide grain harvest lands in the factory farms of industrial nations.
- In order to "produce" 1 kilo of beef, you need 9 kilos of grain.
- The poor nations are partly forced to sell for animal feed highly nutritious plant foods that are necessary for the human diet. We import 60% of the animal feed used in factory farming (grain, soybeans, peanuts, etc.) from developing countries.
- For a 200 gram steak, up to 2 kilos of grain are used as animal feed. These 2 kilos of grain would satisfy the hunger of ca. 8 children. 40,000 children starve to death every day!
- 50 million people starve to death every year! If the industrial countries would reduce their meat consumption by a mere 10%, 100 million additional people could be fed. No one has to starve!
The rich man's cow eats the poor man’s bread.
World hunger and environmental pollution
Solid and Liquid Manures
The production of 1 kilo pork generates ca. 15 kilos of liquid manure – US farm animals produce 1,4 billion tons of solid manure per year – 130 times the amount produced by the human population. The nitrate contained in it pollutes the groundwater. The ammonia fumes from manure and slurry is a major contributor to the development of acid rain and dying forests.
Greenhouse Effect
The production of meat releases great quantities of CO2, especially through burning the rain forests for hamburger chains. Aside from this, cows produce 100 million tons of methane annually – 20% of the entire emission of this highly poisonous gas.Rain Forests
Every two seconds an area of forest the size of a football field is destroyed – in great part for planting pastures. 5 square meters of rain forest are cut down to produce one hamburger. The consequences of this destruction for the water and climate cycles of the Earth cannot yet be estimated.
Soil Erosion
The percentage of soil erosion caused by the production of meat and of milk is 85% - that is a total of 24 billion tons every year.
Raw Materials
One third of all raw materials are consumed by factory farming: plant foods, fossil fuels, wood, minerals.
Drinking Water
50% of the entire consumption of drinking water is accounted for in factory farming. For the production of 1 kilo meat, 100 times more water is used on the average than for the production of 1 kilo of grain or vegetables. And yet, according to the United Nation more than 1,4 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water.