GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE CAMBRIDGE IGCSE: HUMANS AND OTHER SPECIES - PRO INTENSIVE FARMING

1. HUMANS AND OTHER SPECIES
PRO INTENSIVE FARMING
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
CAMBRIDGE IGCSE P5

2. LIVESTOCK INTENSIVE FARMING
Livestock farming involves the rearing of animals for food and other human
uses, such as producing leather, wool and even fertilizer.
This type of farming primarily applies to cattle or dairy cows, chickens, goats,
pigs, horses and sheep but it is also increasingly relevant for other animals
such as donkeys, mules, rabbits and insects such as bees which are now being
raised as part of livestock farming.

4. HISTORY OF INTENSIVE FARMING
Livestock farming has been a part of human society for most of history, ever
since humans started domesticating animals to make their life better.
But as with most forms of farming, such as agriculture, livestock farming too
has intensified, particularly in recent decades.
This has allowed the goods of livestock farming to become more widely
available and cheaper to buy; which is particularly important if you think that
staples such as milk, honey, eggs and meat are all products on livestock
farming.
The practices of intensive livestock farming have had on several occasions
given a lot of concern in terms of food safety, animal welfare and
environmental impacts – to the extent that livestock farming is often referred
to as “factory farming”.

5. ADVANTAGES OF INTENSIVE FARMING
At face value, it is hard to discount the importance of this industry: the direct
contributions of livestock farming to the world economy are estimated at
about 883 billion dollars and this does not account for the services that rely
on it, ranging from butchers, retailers, transport companies to feed producers
and equipment manufacturers.
Beyond its economic value, livestock farming supports the livelihoods and
provides food security to almost 1.3 billion people.

6. ADVANTAGES OF INTENSIVE FARMING cont.
Today, it is one of the fastest growing sectors of the agricultural economy.
This has been made possible through the increasing intensification of
livestock farming practices which have helped increase yields and efficiency
while bringing down costs.
For example, the practice of concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO,
means farmers can rear more animals by confining them in concentrated
areas maximizing the potential of the land area they have at their disposal.
In other words, pigs, cows, chickens, and other livestock are kept in a very
small area of land which makes livestock easier to manage while increasing
output for a smaller amount of land.

7. DISADVANTAGES OF INTENSIVE FARMING
At the same time, we cannot discount the increasing animal welfare,
environmental and health concerns that the intensification of livestock
farming brings. When it comes to animal welfare, cost saving techniques
often have an impact on the health and wellbeing of the animals.
Legislation in many countries and regions, such as the European Union and
New Zealand, recognises animals as “sentient beings” and not merely
commodities which means that they can experience emotions, including pain
and distress.
This means that it is not accepted that animals reared as livestock should live
under strenuous conditions.
Unfortunately, practices where animals are transported long distances to
market under inhuman conditions or slaughtered in painful ways still persist.

8. DISEASES RELATED TO INTENSIVE FARMING
At the same time, the often very crowded conditions under which livestock
animals are kept in intensive farming, means that the animals are more
susceptible to diseases.
In low- and middle-income nations, 13 livestock-related diseases that can
affect humans causes up 2.4 billion cases of human illness.
In an effort to ensure animals do not contract diseases, farmers use
antibiotics which in the long-term lead to the evolution of bacteria and the
rise of drug-resistant pathogens.

9. ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
Livestock sector accounts for 14.5% of human-induced greenhouse-gas
emissions, exceeding that from transportation.
Animal waste and discards is often not treated appropriately with farmers
often disposing their waste in rivers where they pollute the water and
threaten the ecosystem’s biodiversity.
There are clear challenges to intensive livestock farming, the need to address
food security and undernutrition as well as sustainability concerns has led to
the expression of the concept of “sustainable intensification”.
As the name suggests, this concept acknowledge the need to maintain
livestock farming activity with an eco-friendly approach which supports high
animal welfare standards.