 Supporters
of industrial farming often claim that sustainable agriculture
is not an economically viable way to produce food. They believe
large-scale factory farming is the most efficient way to produce
huge quantities of cheap food.
What these advocates fail to recognize is that the
seemingly low price of industrial food does not take into
account the true costs of production. These hidden costs include
environmental degradation, use of fossil fuels, damage to human
health, and the destruction of rural communities. These costs
are not paid for by the owners of factory farms; they are paid
for by residents of the communities in which these operations
are located, by taxpayers and by consumers.
 "Environmental Costs"
Factory farms are directly responsible for a wide range of environmental problems. In addition
to creating unmanageable amounts of waste,
causing massive topsoil erosion, aquifer depletion, and the
reduction of biodiversity, factory
farming pollutes our air, water and soil
with hazardous gasses, toxic chemicals, and harmful pathogens.
The price of industrial-farmed food does not include the cost of
this damage. Instead, the burden is borne by the local community
and by we taxpayers who must finance government cleanup efforts
with their tax money.
Fossil Fuels and Energy
Use
As a result of industrial agriculture, food that was once
produced locally must now be transported extraordinarily long
distances. On average, conventional fruits and vegetables
produced in the US travel about 1,500 miles before reaching the
point of sale.i In addition, there are numerous food
products imported from foreign countries, which means the average meal can travel even longer
distances. Industrial farms also rely on highly mechanized
systems, to run livestock operations and produce the feed for
their animals.
Transporting and producing food in this way requires an
enormous amount of fuel for trucks and
machinery. This fuel consumption results in increased air
pollution (a problem that is both extremely difficult to fix and
essentially immeasurable in terms of cost), as well as a
continued reliance on foreign oil.
Human Health Costs
Many industrial agriculture practices are harmful, not only to
the health of individuals living nearby
large farms but also to the health of consumers who eat the food
they produce. Residents suffer illness resulting from
contaminated water supplies and air pollution, while consumers
are exposed to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, pesticide residues
and outbreaks of food borne diseases. Factory farms do not pay
the hospital bills to treat any diseases from contaminated food
and water, instead, they are passed directly to the people who
miss work when they are sick, and to the taxpayers who help
finance the health care system.
Rural Communities
Another hidden cost of industrial-farmed food is its impact on
small family-owned farms and rural communities.
As a result of the expansion of industrialized agriculture,
there are now nearly 4 million fewer farms in the US than there
were in the 1930's.ii While small family farms help
improve rural economies by creating more jobs and by patronizing
local businesses, factory farms operate with minimal labor and
generally purchase building materials, equipment, supplies, and
feed from outside of the region.iii As a result,
rural areas are left with high rates of unemployment and very
limited opportunity for future economic growth.
Economic Efficiency
Even if the hidden costs of factory farming are ignored, it's
still not clear that industrial
agriculture operations are more efficient than smaller, sustainable farms. A substantial
body of work within agricultural economics literature suggests
that smaller operations are in fact more productive than larger
ones. Large-scale, single crop, industrial farms can
produce a large amount of output per unit of labor, but diverse,
sustainable crop systems are actually more productive in terms
of output per unit of land.iv In other words,
sustainable farms require more workers (and create more jobs),
but produce more food on smaller plots of land than industrial
farms.
Also, increased food production by industrial farming has
not managed to relieve any of the problems related to famine and
hunger throughout the world. The University of Essex found that
sustainable agriculture increased productivity by an average of
93% in 9 million farms in such places as the Sahel of Africa,
the hills of the Andes, the rainforests of Southeast Asia, and
other areas where chemical inputs are neither affordable nor
successful.v Meanwhile, industrial agriculture has
allowed the US to develop a culture of over-consumption, where
we waste about half the food we produce.vi
Subsidies
Even if it seems like we’re paying less for
industrially-produced food at the grocery store, we’re
spending our tax money on huge subsidies
that the government gives to agribusiness. Between 1995 and
2004, the U.S. government awarded $143 billion in agricultural
subsidies.vii 72 percent of these subsidies were
granted to just 10 percent of US farms.viii These
subsidies promote industrial agriculture while allowing big food
producers to keep their prices artificially low, making it
impossible for small farms that don’t receive subsidies to
compete. And it’s our tax money that’s supporting
this!
Supply, Demand and Food
Prices
A basic economic principle shows that an increase in consumer
demand for a product will encourage more firms to supply that
product, eventually causing its price to fall. This is good news
for the growing community of consumers interested in purchasing
sustainable foods.
As more consumers consider the environmental and social
effects of food production, the market for sustainable foods has
expanded dramatically. According to the USDA, the sale of
organic agricultural products increased by 20 percent each year
throughout the 1990's and is predicted to grow 9 to 16 percent
annually through 2010.ix It has also become
increasingly common to find foods at the store bearing
eco-labels like "raised without
antibiotics" and "Cage Free."
What You Can Do
The trend towards sustainable food production is the result of
concerned consumers making responsible choices. By purchasing
sustainable foods from your local farmer or your local grocery
store, you are not only supporting the farmers who produced
these goods, you are also actively encouraging the future
production of sustainable food.
- Don't give your money to industrial
agriculture – give it to a sustainable farmer instead!
Check out the Eat Well Guide to locate sources of
sustainable meat products in your area.
- Buy foods directly from farmers at
farmers markets, farm stands,
or through a CSA group.
Did You Know?
- In 2002, only one-third of the
U.S.'s 2,128,982 farms received government subsidies;
two-thirds of all U.S. farmers received no payments.x
- The percentage of the rural
workforce employed on farms dropped by about 50 percent in the
1980s and 1990s.xi
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