Lindsey Kachi
Mrs. Ciallella
English 8C
16 May 2012
Failure to Care for Livestock The respect towards livestock in America is steadily declining through the practice of "factory farming." Factory farming is performed by the few large companies controlling food processing in America, it is vile and takes away humanity from those who continue to do it. It is the process in which farms "manufacture" food in unhealthy environments rather than safely breed livestock. It negatively affects the welfare of animals and the companies put the value of efficiency and profit before the health and safety of the animals. The repercussions of the choice to make these environments unhealthy by large corporations and keep them that way without trying to fix them further the damage to the treatment of livestock and the nutritional damage to America. It is imperative that America takes a stand as a nation to stop the process of factory farming and its effects, before the corporations go too far to the point where it is unstoppable. Factory farming is an increasing epidemic in the world of farming, we need to stop this before it is no longer preventable. A large portion of the population in America actually have no idea how livestock is taken care of by the corporations that they buy from. They do not know that the animals are so carelessly handled, that the animals are looked at as materials rather than actual living produce. In the documentary "Food, Inc." (2010) the producers of the movie actually get an inside view of the process of factory farming. The scene from Chapter 1: "Fast Food to All Food" shows how newly hatched chicks are instantly stamped for the approval of being edible food later on. The unfortunate chicks with birth defects were simply thrown away as if they were lifeless trash, never to lead a normal chick life however short it could've been. The chicks were not even given the chance to have a normal life, the chicks were denied respect for being alive and well regardless of defects. Human beings today are born with birth defects, yet we do not throw away human babies as if they are lifeless trash. One does not simply disregard the life of another no matter how small it may be, animal or human. The safety of animal welfare, and the production of enough food for a large population is achievable, actually it is being achieved at this very moment. Environmental conditions of the animals can be improved and actually improve their health if America just works at it as a nation. Famous Chef hailing from the restaurant, "The Blue Hill," Dan Barber found a way to keep his fish on the menu, in order to do this he went on a trip to Spain. In Spain he met a farmer named Miguel, with the help of his fellow farmers and vast resources, he was able to recreate a complete and healthy farm kind of ecosystem in which he could raise his animals purely without the pain or torture that is realized in factory farming. After seeing this he asks the question, "How are you going to feed the world." Barber despises this question, he says that it has defined our logic for agriculture in the last 50 years, but if we're going to feed a billion people, let America do it right. By creating a world without machine run farms, let America go natural in the way it would produce food, through time and care. Through the process of a safer more natural way of farming, we would see the rights and general animal welfare rise from its plummeting fall in factory farming.

To preserve and heighten the quality of farm animal life in those factory farms, Americans need to improve the living conditions of the animals. Another scene from "Food, Inc." (2010) Chapter 1: "Fast Food to All Food" shows the housing environment and feeding of the chicken farms. These houses are unhealthy and not safe for the chicken, besides the amount of disease that travels through the houses because of overcrowding, they have no leg room to move anywhere. The documentary shows some of the chicken not being able to move at all because their legs cannot even carry their weight. The chicken are left in the dark, literally pitch black darkness, this happens so that they are more calm and don't know what is going on in their surroundings. But that is one of the main reasons it is unhealthy, they literally cannot see what is coming next, they are all gathered up and flung into cages, the workers seemed to have made a game out of it. If America was actually educated in the real production of food in America and were not so desensitized towards the welfare of animals, we would not be facing the problem of factory farming. It can be said that many Americans would deny the consumption of these animals, if they knew how the animals were treated during their growth.
Through the use of factory farming America does see results when it comes to shoveling out food for the general populace, but the relentless disregard of animal welfare is not worth the overly well fed stomachs of Americans. Yes, it is more efficient way of creating food for the greater population of America, yet it does not justify the incorrect and vile treatment of the animals that make up the market of food. As a result, these scenes further prove why America needs to stand up and rebel against the corporate use of factory farming, otherwise America is only going to dig itself a hole it will not be able to get itself out. The lack of education of factory farming or rather agriculture in general in America is very lacking, this proves to be a problem since children don't know how their food was raised to be eaten. America would be able to progressively stop the act of factory farming, if we instill safe and respectable farming values in the early education of children. From the University of California of Berkeley, a site wife and also First Lady to the President of America, Barack Obama, has decided to try and instill good eating habits for children in elementary school and of higher education. With the program she supports, "The Edible Schoolyard," she plans to raise awareness and educate at a younger age, how the food they consume is produced and slowly put an end to the terror of factory farming. As children in elementary school, they were taught that animals live happily in farms only to live on and breed more livestock. But if in these earlier stages of education; were America to expose these problems to the children, just maybe would America be able to progress towards a better state of farming and reduce the use of factory farming. Even if we expose minor points to the epidemic that is factory farming, the children would be all for creating a better life for the animals.
The lack of education in America has led to the continued use of factory farming in large corporation controlled farms today, to continue on the lack of education. People who actually see that this poses a problem for the future of America have been planting the seeds of Agricultural classes across America. They create these classes in middle schools and high schools, but these classes would best serve their value in elementary schools. Author of many books detailing the need of certain kinds of education, published by the University of Chicago Press, Benjamin Marshall Davis says that though agricultural classes would be a great plan, the truth of the matter is that there are not that many qualified teachers to teach these agricultural classes. Along with the ages of the pupils would serve another ladder to climb(469). Through the eyes of Davis, it seems that we need to instill these values of good agriculture to the younger population, but in order to do this, America needs to educate the population between the age of 19 and older, this is so that they may teach the younger population without any sort of bias. This will show them the truth to how bad the situation is getting and hopefully will spark a progressive farming movement. Many realists would probably object that creating a completely new ecosystem out of the blue would take too much time and money. These realists consist of the people of the company of Monsanto. This company of Monsanto advertises good health and welfare for animals, in their websites, but if one looks at the Chapter 1: "Fast Food to All Food" from "Food, Inc." (2010) and see much of the research describing the living conditions of the animals they "take care of," one would see that the people of Monsanto are terrible hypocrites. In this company they believe that creating a completely new way of farming right out of the blue, would destroy the market of farming and that it would take more money to change it completely than to keep it at the state of factory farming. They would be right in a sense that maybe it would take time and money, but not everything has to change right away, it is a due process of progression to a better way of life. At first glance it would seem that most of the general population of America would not care either way if the way animals were taken care of during factory farming was good or bad. But when you take a closer look, the good part of their humanity cries for a better way of taking care of the animals during the farming process. Like Dan Barber was saying, it feels much better to eat knowing your food was raised healthy, rather than tortured to death.
Instead of buying produce from large corporations that only further the harm of animal welfare, look to buy at the more local markets around the area. The reason behind this is that America can give power back to the small family owned farms and make it so that there is a healthier lifestyle for farming livestock around America. In a study of air quality conducted by the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center from the University of Iowa, communities receive better economic benefits by purchasing or just being around small family owned farms, rather than purchasing from the larger corporation like farms. In turn, these small farms give back the money by buying feed and seed from other various local markets, the economy grows together. These farms do not use assembly lines like those of the factory farms, they keep their livestock in a safe, comfortable environment all while improving the nearby economy. It is a sort of domino effect or rather a better way to put it would be that of a snow ball effect. Once the everyone starts buying locally, the care for the animal welfare will be greatly boosted.
A few studies on the effect of fairly large corporate farms in towns show that problems economies face are largely at fault from the large factory farm companies, because of their machines and unhealthy, diseased living conditions of the animals, the odors they emit are disgusting and drive down property values. This study is furthered by the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development from Iowa State University. By increasing the power of small farms, merely by making purchases of their crop or livestock can drive up property values, mainly because the animals would be able to live healthier without the pollution from the constant use of machines. Though the convenience of large companies is very tempting, small farms are the better choice as it will improve lives of the animals and in turn, this would create a better, healthier future for the livestock of America.
Continuing on the thought that eating local would be better, Mark Bittman, food writer and author of the "Minimalist" column in the Dining section of the The New York Times, states that eating local improves the health of everyone, but it is a dying fad. He goes on to say that 100 years ago, "Everybody was a locavore. . . Every family had a cook, usually a mom." A locavore is a person who goes out and eats locally, but like he said, 100 years ago there was not any means of food transportation, everything was eaten locally. This proved to be a great system as it provided a good ecological system for the livestock back in those days. No assembly lines to process our food for us, but safe and healthy living conditions for the animals. Eating locally offers a superior state of healthiness for the animals and a better economy. All of these sources used fixes the mistaken impression that general animal welfare is terrible in the life of a factory farm. In order to get a real good grip of America's health back, we need to stop feeding into these factory farms and provide ourselves a better future. To provide America with a better future everyone must progressively stop buying products from the vile companies that control farm factories, this will presents a better opportunity for a healthier lifestyle not only for the animals but for the human race as well. Educating people at younger ages in order to instill values that would further the progress of healthier eating habits and treatments of animals, but America would regain its respect for life. America needs to take a stand soon and progressively turn away from those farm factories, this is the only way we'll stop the harm to those factory farm animals whom were not given a chance.