The Biowar Sh*tbomb

Figure Legend: 2007 Census of Agriculture data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows the geographic concentration of hog and pig production in the US. Source: USDA Census of Agriculture; 2007 Census Ag Atlas Maps 

Each of those dots in the above figure are CAFOs or IFAPs. That is, Confined Animal Feeding Operations, or Industrial Food Animal Production facilities. Really, it just depends on who you're talking to. Each dot on the map represents 20,000 hogs and pigs--in other words, the equivalent of a fairly big town. And each animal is producing an average of 74 pounds (33.5 kilos) of waste per day. [links to .pdf I averaged the waste production of five different classes of hogs and pigs to get the number quoted] That's about 1.48 million pounds or 671 metric tonnes of shit and piss per day. When hogs are raised in this kind of concentration, they are being raised under contract: a contract that spells out everything about the way an individual animal is brought to market weight or whatever the end goal is. Feeding, confinement, environment, drug use, delivery weight,all is spelled out in detail--frequently the feed specified is a feed produced in the vertically integrated corporation contracting for the final "product." The only thing the farmer owns or controls? Yup, 671 metric tonnes of waste per day.
This is not a minor issue. This waste is a greenhouse gas producer, it's difficult to dispose of (spreading it on fields is the preferred technique, but the volumes are a problem--the land cannot absorb the amount of nutrients), and it's often contaminated with low levels of pharmaceuticals used in raising animals in confined quarters. These are shit-bombs that go off at thousands of sites every single day--and that's just in America. Add in Canada and China and this becomes a nightmarish situation. It is estimated that, in America, livestock produce more than 100 times the waste that the amount of human sludge treated by municipal waste-water treatment every year.[Gerba, C. P., & Smith, J. E. (2004).  Sources of pathogenic microorganisms and their fate during land application of wastes. Journal of Environmental Quality, 34(1), 42-48.]

Raising Meat and the Research Issue

Over at the New York Times, James E. McWilliams, back on April 12th 2012, published an op-ed piece called The Myth of Sustainable Meat. It's an attack on the idea that meat can be raised under better conditions than the farm-feedlot system currenty used in the industrial world. This was a direct attack on the techniques employed by Joel Salatin at Polyface Farm--and Mr. Salatin was justifiably upset. And he fired back.

from the Polyface Farm website

Pictures like the one above are what people think of when they think of raising animals on a farm--a picture out of the first half of the century repeated in endless kid's books and in popular culture ever since. But it simply isn't the case any more. Instead, sows are confined to gestation crates in massive hog barns.

credit: Wikipedia

People don't like to think that their food has been tortured before eating, but that's pretty much the way it is. CAFOs, Confined Animal Feeding Operations, pretty much dominate modern meat production, and as awareness of the way they operate spreads, they find themselves under increasing pressure, both from consumer groups and legislators. When Howard Lyman, a fourth-generation rancher in Montana became disgusted and enraged with the way cattle were being treated (and having suffered two bouts of cancer), he ended up on Oprah Winfrey's show in 1996, talking about how cattle are abused. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association decided a SLAPP suit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) was called for, but they lost that suit in 1998, when both Lyman and Winfrey were found not guilty of any wrongdoing.