Thanks to the industrializers of American agriculture, we finally know why the chicken crossed the road: to run away from the factory farm.
These livestock and poultry factories are encased in thousands of sprawling, low-slung, metal buildings that now litter much of our nation’s rural landscapes.
Rarely seen by consumers, much less entered by them, the prison-like facilities are officially called “confined animal feeding operations.” They’re as far from pastoral as that name suggests.
Typically, a factory farm has many thousands of chickens, cows, hogs, turkeys, or other animals jammed together in tiny cages and crates that permit little movement beyond eating and defecating.
An Ohio egg-producing operation, for example, was found to have four million birds “living” six to a cage. The cages were no bigger than an open newspaper, giving each one a space of roughly eight inches by eight inches. For life.
That’s not a farm, it’s an animal concentration camp.
And unbeknownst to the vast majority of consumers, 97 percent of the eggs we buy come from factory farms. Even less known is the nasty fact that those cages aren’t just crammed with hens. They’re also teeming with salmonella and other pathogens.
Indeed, Big Agriculture rationalizes its assembly-line treatment of animals on the grounds that it yields cheap eggs and meat. But that “low price” is only achieved by passing onto the public the high health costs of food poisonings, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, cancers, and contaminated water that our reliance on the factory farm model creates.
This approach to producing food is so gross that: 1) The president’s cancer panel urges consumers to avoid it altogether by buying organic food; and 2) The industry is trying to make it a crime to take pictures or make videos of factory farms.
Out of sight, out of mind, right?
Defying Trump’s right-wing agenda from Day One
Inauguration Day is coming up soon, and at Truthout, we plan to defy Trump’s right-wing agenda from Day One.
Looking to the first year of Trump’s presidency, we know that the most vulnerable among us will be harmed. Militarized policing in U.S. cities and at the borders will intensify. The climate crisis will deteriorate further. The erosion of free speech has already begun, and we anticipate more attacks on journalism.
It will be a terrifying four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. But we’re not falling to despair, because we know there are reasons to believe in our collective power.
The stories we publish at Truthout are part of the antidote to creeping authoritarianism. And this year, we promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation, vitriol, hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please show your support for Truthout with a tax-deductible donation (either once today or on a monthly basis).