Interestingly, a report from The Food & Water Watch says factory farms are going up in numbers across the U.S. From using data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture from 1997-2007, the map shows the density of animals imprisoned in each state. Visitors to the site can select an animal type to see specific populations (cattle, dairy cows, hogs, broiler chickens or layer chickens).
There are four factory-farmed chickens for every single American. Unfortunately, over the ten year span of the data, the number of U.S. factory farm egg-laying hens increased by 24 percent to 266.5 million.
Consequently, there are several environmental problems that come from this high density of animals from being produced for human use. Commercial confined livestock and poultry operations produce half a billion tons of manure each year. This is more than three times as much as that produced by the entire U.S. population. As a result, excess livestock manure applications to fields of crops is the fastest growing large source of the greenhouse gas methane. As we know, methane Methane is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas emitted in the United States from human activities.
On the contrary, Americans appear to be limiting their beef consumption, with numbers decreasing from a high of 28.1 billion pounds consumed in 2007 to 26.9 billion pounds consumed in 2009.
According to researchers, if Americans ate only three fewer meals without meat week, it would have the equivalent of taking all the SUV’s off the road. “Our beef farms and feedlots are one of the biggest problems we have in terms of pollution, and we could change that with just a little decision.”
We can use these maps to see the pattern of factory farms across the US. It can help determine the increase/decrease of farms and ultimately, if Americans are eating more or less meat over time.
I have acted honesty and integrity in producing this work and am unaware of anyone who has not.
Corrigan, Annie. "Factory Farm Map Brings Big Ag Close To Home | Earth Eats - Indiana Public Media." Earth Eats RSS. NPR, 2 Dec. 2010. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
Izzy Lackner
أكثر...
There are four factory-farmed chickens for every single American. Unfortunately, over the ten year span of the data, the number of U.S. factory farm egg-laying hens increased by 24 percent to 266.5 million.
Consequently, there are several environmental problems that come from this high density of animals from being produced for human use. Commercial confined livestock and poultry operations produce half a billion tons of manure each year. This is more than three times as much as that produced by the entire U.S. population. As a result, excess livestock manure applications to fields of crops is the fastest growing large source of the greenhouse gas methane. As we know, methane Methane is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas emitted in the United States from human activities.
On the contrary, Americans appear to be limiting their beef consumption, with numbers decreasing from a high of 28.1 billion pounds consumed in 2007 to 26.9 billion pounds consumed in 2009.
According to researchers, if Americans ate only three fewer meals without meat week, it would have the equivalent of taking all the SUV’s off the road. “Our beef farms and feedlots are one of the biggest problems we have in terms of pollution, and we could change that with just a little decision.”
We can use these maps to see the pattern of factory farms across the US. It can help determine the increase/decrease of farms and ultimately, if Americans are eating more or less meat over time.
I have acted honesty and integrity in producing this work and am unaware of anyone who has not.
Corrigan, Annie. "Factory Farm Map Brings Big Ag Close To Home | Earth Eats - Indiana Public Media." Earth Eats RSS. NPR, 2 Dec. 2010. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
Izzy Lackner
أكثر...