Factory farming pollutes environments, contaminating the natural world with a range of potentially lethal toxins.

Real story:

How even our beaches are being polluted by factory farming

With hundreds or often thousands of farm animals crammed together, factory farms can create a range of pollution problems. This can affect both natural environments and the animals and plants that inhabit them¹. In 2006, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) described livestock farming as '…one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems'².

Lots of animals equals lots of feed

More traditional farming methods can be relatively efficient, converting grass and other waste products into useful food. But the "fast-growth, high-yield" factory-farming model is far less efficient, using substantial amounts of grain and protein-rich soya. These crops often receive large quantities of pesticides and nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich fertiliser to boost plant growth³. This has obvious uses, helping us to achieve higher plant yields, but a large amount of the fertiliser can be wasted and lost to the environment⁴.

US livestock farming is responsible for around a third of the nitrogen and phosphorus that enters the country's freshwaters.

UNFAO (2006)⁵

Lots of animals equals lots of waste

Farm animals produce large amounts of nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich waste on a daily basis. This can be a good thing - animal waste can be a useful form of manure, replenishing the soil with certain nutrients⁶. But in factory farms, the concentration of animals indoors generally means that the waste is concentrated in relatively small areas. This waste should be properly managed and disposed of, but this isn't always the case, and it can find its way into the natural environment⁷.

Some large farms can produce more raw waste than the human population of a large US city.

US Government Accountability Office (GOA) (2008)⁸

A potential pollution disaster

Nitrogen and phosphorus can create significant problems: for example, they can leak into water courses. This can kill plants and animals, and even leave vast 'dead zones', where few species are able to survive. Some of the nitrogen will also become gaseous, turning into ammonia, for instance⁹, which can acidify waters and deplete the ozone layer. And we can be directly affected too, as the quality of water supplies can be threatened¹⁰.

Livestock farming accounts for over 60% of our global ammonia emissions.

UNFAO (2006)¹¹

And there are a host of other impacts

It's not just dangerous levels of nitrogen and phosphorus that arise from factory farms - they can produce a cocktail of contaminants including pathogens such as E. coli¹², heavy metals and pesticides¹³, which can endanger both our health and that of other animals and plants.

Pig slurry is 75 times more polluting than raw domestic sewage.

Archer (1992)

But don't just take our word for it

Factory farms…produce staggering amounts of animal wastes. The way these wastes are stored and used has profound effects on…the environment.

NRDC (2011)¹⁴

The livestock business is among the most damaging sectors to the earth's increasingly scarce water resources, contributing among other things to water pollution from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and the pesticides used to spray feed crops.

United Nations (UN) (2010)¹⁵

Unmanageable and polluting mountains of waste and noxious odor are the hallmarks of industrial-style [factory farms].

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) (2008)¹⁶

So what?

Factory farming pollutes environments. By taking action against factory farming, we are not just creating a food and farming revolution; we are also tackling some of the world's most pressing environmental problems.

Our sources

1. CDC (2011), Animal Feeding Operations
2. UNFAO (2006), Livestock's Long Shadow
3. Greenpeace (2011), The Future of Agriculture
4. Pew Commission (2009), Putting Meat on the Table
5. UNFAO (2006), Livestock's Long Shadow
6. ESF (2011), European Nitrogen Assessment
7. USEPA (2011), What's the Problem
8. GOA (2008), Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
9. EIP (2011), Hazardous Pollution from Factory Farms
10. USEPA (2011), Human Health
11. UNFAO (2006), Livestock's Long Shadow
12. NRDC (2001), Cesspools of Shame
13. Pew Commission (2008), Putting Meat on the Table
14. NRDC (2011), Pollution from Giant Livestock Farms Threatens Public Health
15. UN (2010), Rearing Cattle Produces More Greenhouse Gases than Driving Cars
16. UCS (2008), Hidden Costs of Industrial Agriculture

Huge thanks to Lamiot for the image (cc)