The Pros And Cons Of Factory Farming

826 Words4 Pages

WHEN WATER KILLS
Factory farming is the mass production of farm produce that is aimed at providing food at larger scale to consumers. This monstrous size of operations includes; crops, livestock, poultry, etc.
Factory farm is a highly controversial topic between animal rights advocates, environmentalists, farmers and corporations. The effects of this practice, both positive and negative, extend to everyone. The operations have raised troubling questions about water quality and threat to public health.
“Manure from factory farms often contains majority of heavy metals, lake-choking nutrients and deadly pathogens such as E. coli. In fact, wherever factory farms have concentrated industrial piles of manure in small space, big trouble follows” (Dr. Paul Hasselback). Local citizens are concerned about the amount of untreated waste it creates. According to a U.S. survey, people living downwind from hog farms, where such factories originate experience more headaches, runny noses, sore throats, excessive coughing, diarrhea and burning eyes than residents of communities without hog factories. Such factories, however have generated intense opposition in rural Canada. Living next to one can be unpleasant, in addition …show more content…

The voluminous pollution generated by hog farms is a growing problem in the US and is intensified by the modern system of factory farming. The waste is a lingering, stinky problem for North Carolina and other hog-heavy states like Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana. North Carolina gained national attention in 1999 when drenching rains from Hurricane Floyd caused waste ponds to rupture and flood, contaminating local water supplies. Fifteen years after the disaster, the state remains the home of 8.9 million hogs, nearly as many as its human population of 9.8 million, making it the second largest pork producer in the