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Essay / How Industrial Farming Can Eliminate the Negative Impacts of Factory Farming
Industrial farming, also known as factory farming, is the large-scale breeding of animals using intensive methods in controlled conditions. This often involves raising pigs, cows and chickens in an enclosed area, in large numbers, to produce poultry, dairy and meat for human consumption (Block, 2009). Started in the early decades of the 20th century, the practice aimed to ensure adequate animal nutrition at relatively low cost while increasing production. According to Lymbery & Oakshott (2015), industrial agriculture has increased food security and the use of technology in farming, storage and shipping of products and by-products. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayBusiness ethics refers to the values and moral principles that guide the way business activities are conducted in an industry. They aim to protect the stakeholders involved, while doing what is right. Business ethics in industrial agriculture are considered heavily violated. The animals involved are confined in conditions that only benefit the farmer, while the animal suffers. Once their use is eliminated, they are slaughtered and their descendants placed in the same conditions (Block, 2009). For the consumer of the products, their health is affected; the overproduction of meat leads to its overconsumption and obesity becomes real. Industrial agriculture was a product of technological progress; as a result, it minimizes production costs, increases revenue and increases profit margins. This has had a detrimental impact on small family farming businesses. In the 1930s, most major economies relied heavily on food imports from other countries. In 1940, small-scale family farming accounted for 54% of all food consumed in the world, with the remainder coming from cash crops (Block, 2009). In 2002, small family farms accounted for 1.5% of marketed food products, while industrial agriculture took the lion's share. Currently, small family farming is almost negligible: the same case applies to small packaging and transport companies that have been bankrupted by industrial agriculture. According to a 2013 FAO report, factory farming is based on a complete neglect of the animals' other needs. except for food and sometimes reproduction. It's based on immoral business ethics and animal cruelty. Industrial agriculture has only one ultimate goal; optimization of performance and profitability. Most animals in the industry are sentient creatures who feel pain, neglect, and love. To a large extent, they are denied adequate interaction with each other and are emotionally tormented. This is especially after birth; young people are not allowed to interact freely with their mothers. To fully understand the level of animal cruelty, let's look at the farming of the two most common animals in industrial agriculture; pigs and chicken. In poultry farming, it is either for egg production or for meat. In egg production, once the eggs hatch, the male chicks are quickly killed as they are not viable for the course; this is also the case for all slaughtered female chicks. The female chicks are debeaked, theirNails are cut and left to mature (Lymbery & Oakshott, 2015). During this time, they are highly vaccinated and feed mainly on GMO and. When mature, they are moved to a laying area, where each chicken is confined to a 2-foot-square birdcage where it cannot move easily (Lymbery & Oakshott, 2015). Here there are hundreds of laying birds stacked in layers. This increases their chances of passing the infection to each other and there is no movement. The chicken ages quickly due to the harsh conditions and is destroyed soon after. The pigs are kept in a small enclosure which does not allow any movement. While they were still piglets, their tails were amputated, the males were castrated, their ears cut off and their teeth cut. These are all painful procedures performed without anesthesia. When mature, the males are slaughtered and sold for their meat while the females are inseminated. They are moved in gestation cages for months until they give birth to the young. These boxes do not allow any movement deemed unnecessary (Lymbery & Oakshott, 2015). They are then transferred to farrowing cages, designed to discourage movement, allowing eating and drinking for the adult piglet and breastfeeding for the piglets. Once the piglets have nursed for around two months, they begin the above process, while the mother is inseminated again (Lymbery & Oakshott, 2015). Once the pig can no longer reproduce or is slaughtered, it is destroyed. Currently, nearly 65 billion cows, chickens and pigs are locked into factory farming practices (FAO Report, 2013). With the aim of reducing as much as possible the time necessary for the maturation of the animal; they are fed GMO corn instead of grass and other forage crops. To try to reduce disease, resulting from poor living conditions, and to provide animals with vitamin D, which they would acquire from basking in the sun; they are constantly given antibiotics. These antibiotics damage the environment when they flow into lakes, rivers or sewers. Factories have also played a role in global warming by emitting greenhouse gases. According to a 2013 FAO report, industrial agriculture accounts for 18% of all greenhouse gases emitted globally. These gases include methane and nitrous oxide which are 80 times more harmful to the ozone layer than carbon monoxide. Industry contributes 37% of the total methane emitted worldwide. Consumption of products from industrial agriculture is harmful to human health. Due to the increasing use of antibiotics and growth hormones during animal incubation and rearing, products contain residues (Casuto, 2007). The effects therefore have repercussions on human beings, which explains the extremely high rate of maturation of adolescents and the increase in their obesity. Consumption of these products also leads to drug resistance in animals and humans, thereby increasing the population suffering from lifestyle-related diseases. Animal rights activists and social welfare advocates have mobilized to defend animals against cruelty in industrial agriculture. Animal advocates advocate for responsible consumption of animals to satisfy human needs for companions, food, clothing and research specimens. Animals should not be subjected to unnecessary distress. Activists, on the other hand, advocate treating animals as equals to human beings (Lymbery & Oakshott, 2015). They must not be slaughtered for human consumption and their products must not..