top of page
1997
2012
Broilers
Layers
Hogs
Dairy
According to the factory farm map below, the production of broilers, layers, hogs and dairy has dramatically increased since 1997. Chickens produced for human consumption are labeled broilers. The eggs hens produce are labeled layers, and more commonly hogs are pigs and dairy refers to female cows used to produce milk.
Factory farming is rampantly destroying the environment due to the rate at which Americans and other first world countries consume animal products. The rate at which humans are mass producing and murdering animals is not environmentally sustainable. In 2012, U.S meat industries produced "more than 93 billion pounds" of meat and poultry. Below you can see the increase in demand for meat and poultry in New York state alone.
However, “Meat from foreign sources accounts for roughly 8-20 percent of total U.S. meat supplies, but only the portions that are imported directly as meat are obvious. While it is relatively easy to track the amount of meat imported by the U.S." This means that meat consumption affects areas such as the Amazon rainforest. Land degradation caused by cattle ranching is detrimental the environment.
"Over the last thirty years, the Amazon rainforest has become one of the main cattle ranching regions in the world. With 5 to 8% annual expansion, the growth of cattle herd is still strongly affecting forest resources in this region."
"Livestock production generates up to one-third of the global greenhouse gases that lead to climate change—primarily the result of methane emissions and the razing of forests to establish grazing pastures—and cattle ranching is the biggest driver of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon."
bottom of page