Eden Farm Animal Sanctuary

The Devastating Environmental Effects of Industrialized Agricultural Livestock Farming

Concentrating large numbers of animals in factory farms is a major contribution to global environmental degradation, through the need to grow feed (often by intensive methods using excessive fertiliser and pesticides), pollution of water, soil and air by agrochemicals and manure waste, and use of limited resources (water, energy).

Livestock production is also particularly water-intensive in indoor, intensive systems. Eight per cent of global human water use goes towards animal production.

Industrial production of pigs and poultry is an important source of GHG emissions and is predicted to become more so. On intensive pig farms, the animals are generally kept on concrete with slats or grates for the manure to drain through. The manure is usually stored in slurry form (slurry is a liquid mixture of urine and faeces). During storage on farm, slurry emits methane and when manure is spread on fields it emits nitrous oxide and causes nitrogen pollution of land and water. Poultry manure from factory farms emits high levels of nitrous oxide and ammonia.

Environmental impacts of factory farming can include:

• Deforestation for animal feed production
• Unsustainable pressure on land for production of high-protein/high-energy animal feed
  
• Pesticide, herbicide and fertilizer manufacture and use for feed production
  
• Unsustainable use of water for feed-crops, including groundwater extraction
  
• Pollution of soil, water and air by nitrogen and phosphorus from fertiliser used for feed-crops and from manure
  
• Land degradation (reduced fertility, soil compaction, increased salinity, desertification)
  
• Loss of biodiversity due to eutrophication, acidification, pesticides and herbicides
  
• Worldwide reduction of genetic diversity of livestock and loss of traditional breeds
  
• Species extinctions due to livestock-related habitat destruction (especially feed-cropping)

*The term Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food or fibre, or labor including cattle, poultry or farmed fish.

Alarming Agricultural Livestock Farming Facts:

• The agricultural livestock industry produces more greenhouse gases than the use of petrol for cars, trucks and other transportation together.

• At least 51% of all greenhouse gas emissions, very likely much more, are a result of the poisonous meat industry according the latest studies from the worldwatch institute.
  

• Livestock industry uses 30% of the worlds surface, including 33% of agricultural land used for planting animal feed.
  Agricultural animal farming leads to deforestation to make way for new pastures and it leads to devastating, widely prevalent soil deterioration caused by overgrazing, soil compaction and erosion.

• Agricultural livestock raising is the number one threat for the ever decreasing resources. An enormous amount of water, land, food etc. is used to produce the feed for livestock animals.Livestock animals eat more protein than they produce. For every 1 kg of animal protein produced, animals consume on average 6 kg of plant protein, in the form of cereal and green fodder.

• It takes more than 100,000 litres of water to produce 1 kg of beef and approximately 900 litres to produce 1 kg of wheat. You can take showers for one year with the water used for 1 kg of beef.
  Meat production is uneconomical and can only be maintained with huge financial subsidies. The production and processing of animal products is supported every year through enormous contributions of taxpayers money as it is completely unprofitable on its own.

• A child dies of hunger every 2-3 seconds. The 760 million tons of grain that is consumed yearly by farm animals worldwide would be enough to cover the worldwide food shortage 14 times.