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How Big is a "Factory Farm"?
I was reading this Introduction to a new book by journalist David Kirby called Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy and Poultry Farms on Humans and the Environment," over at Firedoglake, a book that the author says has three years of research and writing behind it. The Introduction is offered as a blog post and I highly recommend checking it out.
But early on, the author offers this definition of megafarms and CAFOs:
At the center of the storm are the large-scale, mechanized megafarms where hundreds of thousands of cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys are fed and fattened for market, all within the confines of enclosed buildings or crowded outdoor lots.
Government and industry call these massive compounds "confined [or concentrated] animal feeding operations," or CAFOs (usually pronounced KAYfohs), though most people know them simply as "factory farms." Chances are you have seen them from above, while flying in an airplane: long White buildings lined up in tightly packed rows of three, four, or many more.
This brings up a question I've been wanting to ask you smart Fair Food Fight readers for some time. How big is too big? Kirby here seems to target only the biggest of the biggest ("hundreds of thousands") and that might work, especially as far as a definition of "factory farm" goes.
But most state Departments of Agriculture define the term CAFO not by size but by length of confinement (45 or more days on feed not grown by the farm on which they're housed); permits and manure plans are typically required of farms with 1000 "animal units" which is MUCH smaller than Kirby's "hundreds of thousands." Under those definitions, an old-fashioned barn and a penned in yard could be a CAFO, and the herd might be as small as 750 head (in the case of cows).
See my point? A great many farms fall into the gap between vague categories like "factory farm," "megafarm," and "CAFO," so it's probably a good idea to hammer that out, eh?
So tell me: How big is too big? A few years back, George Siemon, CEO of Organic Valley, told an audience here in Minneapolis that larger than 2,000 head of cattle didn't feel organic to him. Is an 8000-head farm gigantic, then? Can a 1500-head herd be too big? Do farmers with good practices get smeared with a term like "factory farm" just because they have a 2000-head herd?
What do you think, compadres? What are you picturing when you use the term "factory farm"? I hope everyone gets in the ring on this discussion -- shoppers, farmers, grocery store workers, ag policy folks.
NOTE: The above shot is an aerial photograph of Aurora "organic" CAFO dairy, via Cornucopia Institute.
El Dragón
Comments
Factory farms
I believe that it is not necesarily the size of the farm, but more how the animals, and land are taken care of. I have seen 2000 cow dairies that are immaculate with great animal care and use of resources. I have also seen 30 cow dairies that are complete rat-holes and some of the nastiest places you could see. I have also seen it the other way around. So I think the focus should be on animal care and environmental stewardship and not on the size.
size matter?
I think I largely agree. I've had the same experience, visiting biosecurity poultry barns and small flocks alike.
I guess my question would be, is there a farm size at which good animal care and environmental stewardship become too difficult too manage? Where steep sacrifices HAVE to be made, and we accept them for the price of cheap meat?
re: size matter?
In my opinion the management of a farm is more important than size. In a lot of cases the larger the farm the better the manegement can handle the animal care an environmental stewardship. For example with new environmental regulations that my family's farm faces we now have the need for someone to spend a majority of their time on meeting these regulations and the paperwork they have created. Fortunately for us our total farming operation was expanded recently with the acquisition of another farm 6 hours north of us that grows hay for our cows. Because of the larger total farme it was easier to move people around to fill the new position.
El Dragón grills a farmer
How many livestock in your operation? And how do you manage manure? Do you get complaints from neighbors, activists, etc, etc?
(Very sorry if you feel interrogated, by the way! I'm just appreciative, excited to have a willing farmer answer my dumb, city-guy questions.)
Also, if you're willing: What region of the country are you located in? Is your local ecosystem conducive to large farms or do you have environmental concerns (water, wildlife habitat, soil quality, etc) that make running your operation problematic?
Likewise
I really appreciate your response, Anonymous. It really isn't about the size of the farm, but the management strategies farmers employ to maintain animal well-being and minimize environmental impacts. It's upsetting that some large (family owned) farms have been labeled as "factory farms" based on size alone.
Nice megafarms
It would be helpful to get some examples of "megafarms" that are acting in the best interests of their animals' well-being and the farm's eco-system. Anyone? Along with that, how did you determine that those operations have good practices? What criteria are you using?
(Just for the sake of discussion, let's define megafarm as 10,000+ heads of cattle, 100,000+ chickens, or 20,000 hogs.)
Quality Over Quantity
I agree with most of the respondants, that it is the quality of animal care and land stewardship that is more important than the quantity (or size) of the "farm". Any "farm" so large that the connection b/w the health and well being of the animals and that of the consumers is lost is an atrocity.
uRDietitian
Size matters?
I'm not sure that the farm's size matters here. It's all about management. A "small" farm could completely disreguard the connection between the health of the animal and quality of meat for consumers. So could a "large" farm. The same could be said for stewardship of the land.
Yet another reason
This is yet another reason why I buy from local farms and why even buying organic doesn't mean much any longer. It's all about greed any more. People need to know. Thanks for the eye opening shot.
organic pasture
You're welcome. Regarding organic livestock management, the good news is that, with the new USDA organic "pasture" rule, CAFOs like Aurora are going to dry up sooner than later. Requiring organic cattle to graze 120 days on pasture is going to be rough in the arid high-plains.
Aurora
Amen on the pasture rule, Brother...also, didn't they just approve language this week that will require Aurora to pay in to the Federal Milk Order? Oh yes, my friends, they have been avoiding that for all these many years because they were an "on farm" processor(?). This gave them a 15-20 cent advantage in the organic milk industry, which has lead to cheap, cheap, cheap private label organic milk retail pricing. This has, in turn, put downward pressure on margins for all who are doing it the right way.
good question
I've been wrestling (heh) with this as well. I've been trying to figure out some standard with which to label cheeses (which is complicated by milk pooling issues) for our store. Number of cows? could be a co-op of 10 small farms. Cow per acre ratio? No guarantee the cows can enjoy that acreage. I think we're settling on cheese production volume but that doesn't guarantee anything about treatment of animals....
processes not size
I consider the factory farm neutral and process based. Animal welfare is certainly implemented in the process standards, subject to the actual performance at each site. Every industry has it's theory and practice, management sets the tone.
A generic size criteria doesn't work for me at all without process evaluations. For example, what does the manure process look like on paper first? That evaluation may conclude "x" head of cattle just can't be done well enough and set that as a limit.
Otherwise, which sites aren't meeting standards due to; animal numbers, handling, site limitations, bad management, bad employees?. What can such sites do? Do we need to make them do it?
Animal welfare can fit the process model & I like how Temple Grandin speaks in those terms, eg % stunned on first shot, % bellowing, % slipping. Some processes will be eliminated all together to support animal welfare.
I can appreciate those who say "factory farms are bad", but I'm not there so absolutely. Due in no small part to the twitter farmers I believe are running good "factory farms".
Was recently discussing idea of what % of a farm sector might meet "Food Inc" portrayal of bad, 100%. Battery cage eggs, factory poultry maybe?
Pig barns, feedlot cattle not 100% for me.
I'm a moderate because I consider myself, regulators and majority of consumers knowledgable enough to be considered complicite in our current food system. It's changing, I expect we'll be changing it faster and faster. There are fewer farmer villians and consumer victims than some would have us believe.
@yourlocalfoods
Big versus small
Fair enough.
So let's talk about economics and what happens to small farmers forced to compete with a big CAFO. The CAFO gets a deal on feed and other inputs. The CAFO gets MASSIVE access to market that the small farmer doesn't enjoy. The CAFO offers a break on price that it makes up in volume, and the small farm can't compete with that.
I don't see this as "bad" farms versus good farms (though it's painfully obvious when bad farms go very bad) . It's really just big versus small, corporate versus independent, and we know how that fight ends in the American economic system. Sadly, in this particular food fight, along with the demise of small farms and other small agribusinesses goes a whole rural way of life, forced out by larger businesses that can farm more efficiently. Tough luck about your farm, hoss. Want a job running the manure digester?
We can talk about eco problems with CAFOs till we're blue in the face (and I will!). But what we gain in cheap food, we're losing in the diminishment of American rural culture.
How big do you thnk a CAFO is?
I would ask how large you think a CAFO is? Not in terms of animal units per the definition, but in terms of an organization. Lets take an example. My family's farm raises about 8,500 pigs a year from just a few pounds until about 250-300 lbs. (another farm provides the piglets) They are on the CAFO list. In addition to that they raise about 7,000 tons of corn and 1,800 tons of soybeans. Care to venture a guess how many employees and how many of them are family members?
How big?
How big is a CAFO? Well, that's part of what I'm asking in the above blog post. Depending on how industrialized your operation is, I'd say a hog CAFO producing that many pigs per year probably requires 4-7 workers total? But I'm a city mouse. Commence laughing at me if I'm way off.
But here's my point. A big CAFO is big enough to put real economic pressure on smaller farms, and that's the size of CAFO I'm talking about in this particular thread. Your farm may even be big enough to be supplying that kind of pressure, anonymous, small as it seems to you. You may not hear it from your neighbors, but I do hear it from small farmers who like to talk to me on the sly: The bigger the CAFO, the stiffer the competition it supplies to neighboring farms (for feed, inputs, etc).
stocking rates matter
Unless statutorily limited, the size of a farm has no limit. Minnesota has the quite exceptional Corporate Farming Law that says "No corporation, limited liability company, pension or investment fund, trust, or limited partnership shall engage in farming...directly or indirectly, own, acquire, or otherwise obtain any interest, in agricultural land." This is one law that makes me proud to be a Minnesotan, but unfortunately it does allow exceptions for poultry, which explains Golden Plump and Jennie O. This law has likely discouraged some of the gargantuan proportions of farms in other states, but still, many single proprietorships are very large.
I would suggest, however, that the stocking rate is the most important factor in sustainable livestock production. I prefer the regulation of Demeter International, the world's best organic certification agency, which also happens to be biodynamic. Demeter determines their stocking rate by the farm's ability to produce fodder according to climactic and local conditions. In their standards, soil fertility must be maintained through the application of animal manure. While determined by the Demeter certification agency in each country, the maximum stocking rate is four livestock units for every five acres. I think this rule should be applied to all of agriculture, organic or not.
manure digesters = good
The Twitterer for Animal Ag Alliance asked me what I thought I about Fair Oaks Dairy in Indiana:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W54aXW10a00
The manure digesters on this farm are creating the operation's own energy and (presumably) reducing the toxic fumes and size of manure lagoon. More here on bio-gas:
http://www.seco.cpa.state.tx.us/re_biomass-manure.htm
I've always been intrigued by this. Swiss and other European cows have been pooping out their own kilowatts for almost 20 years, and I've read that 200-300 head dairy herds can generate 750 kilowatt hours a day (enough electricity for 30 homes.)
Plus, smells, toxic fumes, and pathogens are greatly recuded; and nitrogen is converted to a slightly more usable form for crops after digestion. No doubt: Manure digesters could answer a number of problems for big CAFOs and their local communities/environments.
Main drawback: Expensive as hell, which is why only the most massive mega-dairies can usually afford them.
CAFO problems that digesters don't answer: antibiotic use (if you see that as a problem; personally, I do); economic impact on small farmers in region around the CAFO; roads and other infrastructure damage.
Factory Farm vs. The Alternative
The issue is not that people are unaware of factory farms. From Salmon to cows, we are very well aware of this issue. However, rather than throwing the issue in our face, real alternatives would be nice.
Put on the table, some realistic alternatives. One major problem is the world population...there are too many people.
I've read the books, seen the videos:
http://www.feedyourheaddiet.com/1/post/2010/02/its-estimated-that-70-of-the-antibiotics-in-the-us-are-used-for-factory-farm-animals.html
http://www.feedyourheaddiet.com/1/post/2010/01/the-happy-cows-that-aint.html
http://www.feedyourheaddiet.com/1/post/2010/03/salmon-a-complex-story.html
http://www.feedyourheaddiet.com/1/post/2010/02/where-are-the-farmers.html
So, the information is available. Now, how about some solutions?
Ken Leebow
Feed Your Head
www.FeedYourHeadDiet.com
solutions and alternatives
We're not talking about solutions? Didn't I just bring up manure digesters as an innovative solution to some of the biggest problems facing CAFO management?
And actually, I gotta disagree with you, Ken. I don't think everyone sees factory farms as a problem. Indeed the second commenter above says family-owned farms are getting smeared by the phrase "factory farm" because they happen to be big CAFOS. Many folks simply think that practices are the problem, not centralizing the food system with CAFOs, factory farms, or megafarms and forcing smaller farms out of business by driving prices downward and breaking small farmers' backs on volume. Dairy farmers have been driven out of business because consumers think cheap is good. So, me, I think we need about a hundred more threads like this one so people think about what they do to their country, their environment, and their farmers when they choose to buy the cheapest food possible from the biggest farms on the planet.
Because the solution is simple and you've heard it before: Find a small farmer that produces excellent food, grown or raised in a way that you trust (that means knowing the issues, of course). And buy from that small farmer whenever you can, with as many dollars as you can afford.
That's my alternative, anyway.
Cattle feedlots
I see some great discussion taking place, and surprised by the response of people wanting good animal care and responsible manure management. I have seen small farms that had bad animal and manure practices and large ones that operated with good standards. The larger farms are under closer scrutiny particularly on the manure management.
I will write about cattle feedlots because they should be separated from most because many of them are set up far differently than hog or poultry. Cattle feedlots rely on smaller farmers/ranchers for the calves to feed. Nearly all of these cattle are sold at auction either in a salebarn, video or online, this allows for fair price for the cattle. After weaning a calf might wind up in a large CAFO or with a smaller feeder that feeds a high hay small grain diet, they might spend 3 or 4 months grazing until they reach 800 pounds then going to a large feedlot for the high grain diet for finishing. Many of these feedlots are known as commercial feedlots and will custom feed for clients, either farmers or investors.
Many times these CAFO provide jobs for people that want to farm, but can't full time. The ones that have great employees, like many jobs, run smooth, animals are treated with utmost care. Many of these also buy corn and hay locally, yes feedlot cattle get some hay. In many places they give strength to the local corn market and also utilize corn that left from ethanol plants, distillers grain. Many of the ethanol plants are a 2 or 3 hour drive at the furthest this allows feedlots to take wet distillers grain and saves the ethanol plants from having to use natural gas to dry it for storage and shipping.
The big 4 packers are starting to get some competition for cattle that meet certain guidelines for meat quality and if they were gave antibiotics or growth hormones. This helps create demand for calves that have the potential to qualify for these markets. A few of these are Laura's Lean Beef, Nolan Ryan's beef. Nolan Ryan's require a 100 day withdrawal of antibiotics and hormone, while Laura's Lean Beef is a never ever for calves and at least 2 years antibiotic free for cull bulls that are destined for hamburger.
A down side is with the concentration of manure at large CAFOs is when there is a manure leak it has the potential to be big. Wet weather with excess rainfall can throw the best laid plans out the window. EPA does and has handed out fines for manure spills, fish kills etc.
ksfarmbooy
ksfarmboy to the rescue
Great information and well written, as always, ksfarmboy. So is it your take that the sky's the limit on CAFO-size, as long as practices are good? Do long term damage to land and local roads, and overall energy use (trucking inputs, shipping livestock) figure in to "good practices"?
I agree, the concentration of manure at large CAFOs is a "downside." Upthread, I mentioned manure digesters. What do you think it would do to the industry/market if the feds required all big CAFOs, or CAFOs located near residential areas, to install enough digesters to reduce lagoon size and create an energy resource?
Do local farmers buy composted/processed fertilizer (manure) from CAFOs, or does the CAFO just give it away? Who trucks it, do you know?
Interesting that beef CAFOs can provide markets for smaller ranches and farms. That makes for a more intricate relationship with the local economy (asssuming CAFOs "buy local"). I'd also like your thoughts on what happens to feed prices when a CAFO moves in to a region. I've heard complaints from small farmers that they can't compete with these CAFOs on feed prices and other inputs. Granted, these are dairy farmers, but I'm assuming something similar happens with beef? Just trying to get a complete picture of what the local economy looks like, surrounding a CAFO.
it's more complicated than size
If Mr and Mrs Aurora lived next to that enormous manure pile and had to deal with the stench and the flies, I would say ' hmm, maybe, but where's the pasture?' It looks pretty brown out there.
Organic or not, their stocking density is too high. Where does all that manure go ? Does it get spread on the fields that produced that hay and grain to feed those cows ? Is it over applied, causing groundwater contamination ? Do they drink the raw milk out of their own bulk tank ? Do they even know what a cow looks like ? There is this thing called greed that screws things up. A short term focus on returns is another problem.
Why do farmers need 2500 animal units or 3000 acres to make a living ? Have all the productivity gains of the "Green" Revolution gone to the processers and inputs suppliers ? How come ? Our food system is busted. It was set up to work that way.
How big is too big is a tough question when the system is disfunctional.
Greg
Riverbend Farm
Food Market is the Key
Great Conversation, every one
I'm not advocating this obviously silly idea, but suggest it merely to put this whole conversation in context. If the interstate (or even more fun, the intercounty) transportation of food was outlawed, there would be no discussion like we are having on this.
The average American has been taught that food that is cheap is good. Food that is mass produced is good. The average American farmer has been taught that we need to feed the world. These 2 principles drive much of the fervor in large scale food production of any practice, organic, conventional , confined, mega, corporate, etc.. Put whatever label you want on it, but if everyone had to find a farmer next week, and pay the real price of food, you'd see millions of small scale, right-sized, humane, sustainable, profitible farms pop up out of the blue.
Well, we can't outlaw food transport, that's for sure, but we can bring about (slowly, I know) a change in the understanding, food choices, and habits of the eating public...
John Mesko
Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota,
Connecting People, Food and Land
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