Study Confirms the Need for More Sustainable Livestock Farming
The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, a two-and-a-half year long study by a non-profit organization, calls for urgent and major reform of confined animal operations.
“One of the most serious unintended consequences of industrial food animal production is the growing public health threat of these types of facilities,” the report said. “There is increasing urgency to chart a new course” in agriculture, which has been shifting over the last 50 years from family farms to large livestock meat producers.”
The studies primary focus assessed four areas of impact by industrial farms:
- Impact on public healthy by overuse of antibiotics on food animals, primarily the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria
- Impact on the environment from animal waste
- The need for humane treatment of animals
- The impact on family farms from lack of competition and the consolidation of the agribusiness entities
