You do not have to be vegetarian to know that farm animals raised in intensive commercial feeding operations suffer terribly from overcrowding, disease and pain. These agribusinesses are run on a production line template to achieve economies of scale with little consideration for their sentient captives. The confined feeding operations have become the predominate method of producing animal protein for our consumption. They produce more than fifty percent of food animals although they comprise only five percent of livestock operations. Their economic efficiency, however is supported by unpaid costs to the environment, our health, and the livestock's well being. These are referred to as "externalities" by economists. Confined feedlots also benefit from taxpayer subsidies for feed grains such as corn, and taxpayer supported clean up of wastes generated in huge quantities (300 million tons of untreated manure per year). Between 1997 and 2005 grain subsidies amounted to $35 billion. Confined animals in large numbers are more susceptible to diseases. Consequently 70% of all antibiotics use in the United States are given to food animals to prevent epidemics. The massive use of human drugs on animals leads to disease resistant strains of bacteria such as E. coli, Campylobacter, and the flesh eating horror, Staphylococcus aureus. Human health in rural communities close to giant feedlots suffer from respiratory problems from particulate pollution as well as contaminated drinking water. The smell alone is enough to drive down property values.The Union of Concerned Scientists in their report, "The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations" concludes that these public subsidies are leading to problems that could be avoided if animals were raised humanely and sustainably. Apart from obvious ethical considerations, their study also concludes that sustainable operating methods produce better quality at comparable profit when externalities are properly considered in the cost per unit calculations. The report estimates that the cost to clean up contaminated soil under dairy and hog feeding operations would approach $4.1 billion. The Department of Agriculture says it would cost $1.6 billion to transport and spread manure on farmland instead of storing it in waste lagoons. The waste lagoons stink and pollute the atmosphere and soil with ammonia, nitrates, excessive phosphorous and nitrogen. The subsidies give huge confined feeding operations an unfair competitive advantage against integrated farms and mid size feedlots that produce healthy food without damaging the environment. We can have our steak, chops, eggs and breath easy too, if the proper regulatory scheme is put into place.
[photo: commercial feedlot, southwest Kansas]