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The Rise and Fall of Factory Farming

New Zealand's Stratford Farmers Butter Factory (2019)

The United States

Emerging in the early twentieth century, rural farmers were unable to supply enough food to an increasing urban population. The 1902 Kosher Meat Boycott occurred as high prices and food shortages in the United States became more common. The beginning of World War I became another strain on farmer’s stockpiles because of the creation of The United States Food Administration headed by former president Herbert Hoover, campaigning for all Americans to “voluntarily change their eating habits in order to have enough food to feed our military and starving civilians in Europe.” As the United States continues to use factory farming as its main mode of food production, growing consolidation and commercialization enables control over the food system by the means of large industrial operations. Investigations into animal farming saw an increase in popularity in the late twentieth century. Exposes such as Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and animal rights organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) created movements toward reflection on animal’s rights within agriculture and the food-industry.

South Asia  

The central government of India made reforms in agriculturally based policies, reducing regulations on food prices, food sales and food storage. Marches took place in states like Punjab and Haryana as nearly over 300,000 farmers exercised their democratic rights to protest these changes. The Indian Government set intentions with their policies as means to achieve economic stability amidst the uncertainty brought forth by Covid-19. Their hopes to revitalize the agriculture sector through private ownership There is an estimated 87% of Indian farmers considered as smallholders, or those who own 1.5 acres or less of land. Policy reforms have caused these farmers to experience environmental, infrastructural, and socio-economic related consequences. It is perceived national trends toward industrial food systems could alter the livelihoods of smallholders indefinitely.

North Africa

Published by the Information & Decision Support Center of the Egyptian Cabinet, a poll showed that nearly 11 per cent of a population of 80-million people eat only less than two kilograms of meat per month, 30 percent eating four to six kgs of meat per month. The increasing demand for meat has influenced the growth of factory farming in this region. In 2009, The Egyptian Chamber of Tourist Establishments (ECTE) proposed a boycott of red meat on the 26th of April, just one of several organizations angered by raised meat-prices. Some factory farms in these areas are marketed to the population as “organic” although there is not sufficient evidence to prove such practices. Research suggests that nearly 10 percent of Egypt’s land “used for animal production has made future farming ‘nearly impossible.”