Is The Consumer or Factory Farming Killing The Family Farmer?

     So, which is it? The consumer started making higher demands, for foods such as tender beef and cheaper meat and eggs, which the family farmer could not keep up with. Then as the population of America grew so did the need for land for homes so farms were bought by land developers and turned into subdivisions. Then there are people who turned vegan or vegetarian because of the inhumane conditions that animals are kept in at factory farms and the havoc they wreak on the environment or even the health problems they can cause for humans. Though vegetarians, vegans, and others who do not eat animal products may not think they affect the family farmer their eating habits do affect some of them, and if they live in a subdivision that affects it as well.

     Before I start my argument, I feel it is necessary to give you some background information. The first bit of information is the industry of factory farms likes to call their farms Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) (Eric Marcus 15). I am disgusted to say the least with this name and I have the same feeling Michael Pollan had in his article “Power Steer” when he said, “The word ‘farm’ no longer applies” when talking about CAFOs (Michael Pollan 1). I will use the term factory farm in this paper because, like Eric Marcus, I feel it is an appropriate term. The reason I will use this term is that in my mind and I am sure in many others minds a farm is were cows roam around open pastures, chickens run around the front yard or a chicken pen, and the pigs lay around in the mud just about all day long. My reason for agreeing with Pollan on the fact that the word “farm” no longer applies is what I just said. Factory farms do not have the animals running around being animals, they are cooped up in a barn, they are “confined” and not allowed to move that much because it makes muscles and that makes meat tough.

     Also, when I refer to a family farm I mean primarily animal farms, all though family farmers can be animal or crop farmers. The reason for this is I am more familiar with animal farmers and hope to be one after college. My argument will mostly be beef cattle farming because this is widely covered and what I know best. My argument for beef cattle family farmers will show how the consumer is just as responsible for the lost of land and family farmers as factory farms.  My argument for beef cattle family farmers will also show, that they need room to grow the beef cattle, that if the demand for tender, cheap beef had not risen there would not be some of the health problems that are here to day, and that if the family farmer could keep raising cows the way a cow should be raised the animals, people, and environment would be healthier. I also want to point out that when I talk about good farms I am talking about farms that raise their animals in humane conditions, that the animals are raised in a way that is good for their health and ours, and that the farmer is more concerned with the well being of his or her animals then almost anything else.