The Ills of Factory Farming Factory Farming 4 Abdulsalam Alshammari Date: 4/6/2016 Factory farming has been an emerging trend in the current world of agriculture. In general terms it actively involves putting together a huge number of animals in restricted conditions. This has an implication of both animal and human suffering due to the accumulated impact of its activities. The increase in factory farming has led to many outcomes both negative and positive. Wastes from factory farming are normally in the form of manure. Although manure is also important in terms of adding nutrients to the firm, it may also be bad depending on how it is disposed and used. This study aims at confirming the thesis that large volumes of manure from the factory farms leak from lagoons or fields where they are applied and end up contaminating underground water. According to Nierenberg, D. (2003), Factory Farming refers to an intensive approach to agriculture. In factory farming, animals and poultry are reared in enclosed systems for the rest of their life. The main aim of factory farming is usually to raise production levels for farmers and thus in turn leading to an increase in profits. There are a number of methods that are applied in factory farming. These methods vary with the taste and specialization of a farmer. A number of farms may specialize in dealing with one line of farming production while others may opt for mixing the production lines. Animals such as cattle - beef and dairy, horses, pigs, donkeys together with poultry such as chicken are reared using this system. These animals are strictly enclosed in cages, paddocks and so forth. The implication of this restriction is to reduce disease infection and to increase productivity. Large number of animals may be kept in one farm so that they can be closely monitored. The farms are full of machines meant enhance the feeding operations for the animals. Besides the advantages that are attached to this kind of farming, there are some disadvantages attached to it too. Nierenberg, D. (2003) says that factory farming is widely known to have negative impacts to humans, animals themselves and the environment at large. In general terms, control and proper organization may only make it efficient to some extent but not completely. In actual sense, it is not wise to deny that the method has led to the provision of cheap food stuffs and also improved economy. In the real sense, the animals themselves are suffering. The environment is also now exposed to pollution. According to Williams, N. M. (2008), environmental pollution has become an alarming issue. As it is well known, many factors in life depend on the condition of the environment. A polluted environment can lead to a lot of negative issues. With polluted environments, people and animals are exposed to new forms of diseases that can be of greater risks. The machines that are used in the farms emit gases which are detrimental to the atmosphere. The man ...

1. The Ills of Factory Farming
Factory Farming 4
Abdulsalam Alshammari
Date: 4/6/2016
Factory farming has been an emerging trend in the current
world of agriculture. In general terms it actively involves
putting together a huge number of animals in restricted
conditions. This has an implication of both animal and human
suffering due to the accumulated impact of its activities. The
increase in factory farming has led to many outcomes both
negative and positive. Wastes from factory farming are
normally in the form of manure. Although manure is also
important in terms of adding nutrients to the firm, it may also
be bad depending on how it is disposed and used. This study
aims at confirming the thesis that large volumes of manure from
the factory farms leak from lagoons or fields where they are
applied and end up contaminating underground water.
According to Nierenberg, D. (2003), Factory Farming
refers to an intensive approach to agriculture. In factory
farming, animals and poultry are reared in enclosed systems for
the rest of their life. The main aim of factory farming is usually
to raise production levels for farmers and thus in turn leading to
an increase in profits. There are a number of methods that are
applied in factory farming. These methods vary with the taste
and specialization of a farmer. A number of farms may
specialize in dealing with one line of farming production while
others may opt for mixing the production lines.
Animals such as cattle - beef and dairy, horses, pigs,
donkeys together with poultry such as chicken are reared using
this system. These animals are strictly enclosed in cages,
paddocks and so forth. The implication of this restriction is to
reduce disease infection and to increase productivity. Large
number of animals may be kept in one farm so that they can be

2. closely monitored. The farms are full of machines meant
enhance the feeding operations for the animals.
Besides the advantages that are attached to this kind of farming,
there are some disadvantages attached to it too. Nierenberg, D.
(2003) says that factory farming is widely known to have
negative impacts to humans, animals themselves and the
environment at large. In general terms, control and proper
organization may only make it efficient to some extent but not
completely. In actual sense, it is not wise to deny that the
method has led to the provision of cheap food stuffs and also
improved economy. In the real sense, the animals themselves
are suffering. The environment is also now exposed to
pollution.
According to Williams, N. M. (2008), environmental pollution
has become an alarming issue. As it is well known, many
factors in life depend on the condition of the environment. A
polluted environment can lead to a lot of negative issues. With
polluted environments, people and animals are exposed to new
forms of diseases that can be of greater risks. The machines that
are used in the farms emit gases which are detrimental to the
atmosphere. The manure that is produced by these farms can
also be of negative impact to the environment.
In the efforts to justify the wrongs of factory farming, there are
a number of negative results of factory farming. These negative
results end up affecting both humans and the animals
themselves. They include, animal cruelty, high rate of infection
of diseases within the animals and even to human beings, poor
nutritional health for the animals, sub-standard quality of farm
outputs, affects community farming and generally, this kind of
farming can have a serious impact on the environment.
The Negative Impacts of Factory Farming
Grobler, R. (2012) understands Animal Cruelty as that
condition when someone hurts an animal or does not even take

3. good care for it. Factory farming thus promotes animal cruelty.
In some other words, it is known as animal abuse. It is also the
neglect of animals which to some extent may have some legal
implications against the perpetrator. In factory farming, animals
are enclosed in closed quarters thus restricting their freedom of
movement. Some of the animals are castrated while others are
injected with chemicals meant to boost their productivity at the
expense of their health. Some animals are known specifically to
be for meet. This thus means that they are not well handled just
because in the end they will be slaughtered for meat. This
promotes animal cruelty.
Secondly, Williams, N. M. (2008), agrees that exposing the
animals to the tight and extremely difficult conditions may lead
to animal deaths. These animals that are enclosed may end up
suffering from stress and other diseases. As a result of this, the
number of animals that may die due to this enclosure increases.
Every environment needs enough animals to complete the food
chain. Thus the death of animals becomes a key characteristic
for factory farming.
Thirdly, factory planning has resulted in poor nutrition
among the animal and the animals themselves. The animals are
usually injected with supplements that are only meant to
increase their productivity. In most cases, animals are injected
with high fats and additives to increase their weight. The result
of this is that these products get into the market as high fat
products which end affecting the consumers. The animals are
denied the essential nutrient thus they end up having a good
look but poor internal strengths such as immunity.
In addition, the community at large suffers the impact of factory
farming. Community farming is largely known as traditional
farming. Factory farming has led to an increase in use of
chemicals. These chemicals get to the ground and are instead
carried into other people’s farms. As a result, the productivity
in the victim farms goes down gradually. In addition to this,
factory farming has led to cheap and relatively quick farm

4. output in the market. The traditional farming thus is slowly
wiped out by factory farming.
Factory farming may also to some extent contribute to negative
things such as global warming. This can be brought about by the
fact that factory farming to some extent may involve an
intensive use of machines and chemicals which in one way or
the other emit gases. Just like in other industries, the release of
harmful gases in whichever volumes can affect the environment
in terms of air pollution. In addition to this, the wastes from
such farming may be very much than the space in the farms can
handle. As a result of this, the pilling of these materials may
lead to emission of gases that are harmful to nature. The
gaseous emissions from these wastes may contribute to the
destruction of the known ozone layer thus leading to global
warming and other kinds of pollution.
Another problem attributable to factory farming is the
issue of water misuse or overuse. In many farms, a lot of water
is needed to supplement the daily consumption needs of the
animals. In this essence, some farms may opt to have in place a
lot of water. The availability of water in these farms is mostly
guaranteed irrespective whether there is enough water in the
locality of operation or not.
To some extent, water may be left flowing within the farms’
facilities. This may be due to the ignorance of the workers in
the farms. Sometimes, communities may be forced to do with
water shortage because of the large volumes of water being
consumed by these farms. A lot of water may also be needed to
flush away the wastes in the numerous cages a factor which to
some extent may lead to water wastage.
Among the major problems of factory farming, we have the
issue of environment pollution. Factory farming has led to
several forms of environmental pollution. This may range from
air, noise, soil and water pollution. Due to mechanization in
factory farms, there are gases that are emitted end up polluting
air. The gases emitted from the mixture of farm chemicals also

5. have an impact on the freshness of air. The chemicals that are
used in the farms also infiltrate the soils thus leading to soil
pollution. Important to this study is the concept of how factory
farming impacts water purity. Water gets polluted in a number
of ways. This study tries to confirm that in deed out of the
water pollution cases reported, factory farming plays a role as
the major source of pollutants.
FACTORY FARMING AND WATER POLLUTION
This intends to look into Factory farming as a cause for water
pollution. The keeping of animals in large numbers thus means
that wastes cannot be avoided. Due to the large number of
animals kept, the farms need to identify the methods of
containing the wastes. Most of these farms go ahead and store
the wastes as manure. These wastes may include components
such as cow dung, urine, plant remains and many more.
In these large farms, the manure is thus kept in large storage
facilities which are usually referred to as lagoons. The lagoons
are very large containers which have the capacity to hold up to
millions of the decomposing farm wastes. It is at this point that
the farm wastes become a threat to the environment and
specifically water.
The lagoons, because they are containers, they leak especially
during the rainy seasons. Most probably, the leaking can be due
to the pressure of the content and also the corroding effect of
the manure. To some extent, the lagoons may break open thus
spilling their contents. This therefore means that all of these
contents flows onto the land and thus into the soil. Whenever
such an incidence occurs, chemicals are released into the
ground. Besides the chemicals, antibiotics and harmful bacteria
may end up leaching into water channels both in and on the
ground.
According to Pluhar, E. B. (2010), the spillage means that the
decomposing material gets into conduct with the water that is
both in the ground or with the surface waters. This flowing
water collects into major streams that form a source of water for

6. both animals and humans. The material from the lagoons
contains chemicals and other harmful microscopic organisms
that when ingested, may end up affecting the health of both
animals and humans.
In addition to this, the manure that was initially stored in the
lagoons may need to be disposed off. Thus the factories may
decide to take the manure onto the farms and administer it there
as fertilizer by spraying. However, to some extent, the manure
is in very large quantities than the farms can handle. The
disposing of this manure requires only certain amounts that are
recommended. But due to ignorance, the farms carry to farms
the entire manure not knowing that even the land has a
saturation point beyond which no manure can be further
absorbed.
Nierenberg, D. (2003) sums it all that the excess fertilizer that
is deposited on the farm ends up being washed away by the
runoff water and that in most cases, the contaminated mixture
often goes to the nearby streams carrying all these contents of
excess fertilizer. This therefore means that this water will end
up being used by both human beings and animals. As a result of
this, wastes either flow to the surface water streams or may
infiltrate the soil to the underground water.
This thus means that those water sources that are known to
be regulated by the government may be to some extent safe than
those which are privately owned. Pluhar, E. B. (2010) posits
that in most cases the use of public water which in most cases
flows on the surface systems does not still guarantee safety.
This is because the number of factory farms is greatly
increased. This increase thus indicates that with time, the public
facilities may not be enough to contain the problem of water
pollution.
If by any means the government and the community at large will
fail to curb the problem of water pollution by the factory farms
then it will remain a challenge. People seem to be identifying it
as a lucrative business opportunity without focusing on its
impact both to the animals, humans and the environment

7. especially water.
CONCLUSION
With the shift of business focus to the agricultural sector,
factory farming is actively coming up as a contemporary issue
in the current global economy. The motive behind has been
identified as the urge for greater profits and human enjoyment
of agricultural success.
Amazingly, the famers in this side have not yet realized the
seriousness of its negative impacts to the society. Looking at
pollution, whether water, air or soil, we are able to say that with
time, factory farming may be a huge threat to life.
The chemicals and microorganisms from the decomposing
manure can mutate into dangerous forms that may not be
curable easily. Thus, instead of improving life, factory planning
is actively degrading the life security of both humans and
animals. It is not the researcher’s advice that the whole practice
be abandoned, but is important that at least measures be
identified to ensure that as the activity raises profits, it also
improves life by use of appropriate techniques to contain its
negative impacts to man and animals alike.
REFERENCES
Grobler, R. (2012). Regulating the Environmental Impacts of
Factory Farming in South Africa: Legal Perspectives: Doctoral
dissertation, North-West University.
Nierenberg, D. (2003). Factory farming in the Developing
World: World Watch, 16 (3), 10-19.

8. Pluhar, E. B. (2010). Meat and morality: Alternatives to Factory
Farming. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental
Ethics, 23(5), 455-468.
Williams, N. M. (2008). Affected Ignorance and Animal
Suffering: Why our failure to debate factory farming puts us at
moral risk: Journal of Agricultural and Environmental
Ethics, 21(4), 371-384.