3.On+the+Range

Group 3

Cory- __Summary-__

The ranching industry has become very commercialized in the last 40 years. The ranches are being taken over by huge companies that are monopolizing the industry. There are only about 8 companies that run over 75% of the whole cattle industry. These companies are making it very hard for small farms to even make a profit. These small farms are being hired by these huge companies to produce their product, the animals. The small farms have to everything provided to them by the big companies. They only have to make the large houses to hold these animals. The problem is that the big companies will make it almost impossible for the small farms to make a profit. When the farms do not produce animal that are up to the standards of the big companies, or meet the quota of the companies they take away everything, even the animals. The farmers are left with absolutely nothing, except debt that comes from building the huge barns and houses for the animals. Also the use of unnatural growth hormones is now being used to keep up with the needs of the industry, which is raising even more eyebrows in the industry. After the introduction of the McNuggets in the 1980’s, the same thing happened to the poultry industry. The large companies bought, and pretty much owned the little farms, eventually driving them out of business. Another big issue with the ranching industry is the lack of land. The industrialization of rural land is taking away farmable land, and making the land more expensive. With many of the farmers already in debt due the large companies, they can barely survive.

__Supporting Research-__

There are two main arguments against large commercialized poultry and cattle farms. The farming methods are cruel to the animals and the conditions of the farms are very unsanitary. The chickens, cows, and pigs are raised in such small spaces that they can barely even turn around. Due to that lack of space, the animals do not exercise their legs, so the animals can't even stand up. All of these animals, especially chickens are very social animals and this causes the chickens to become more aggressive, stressed, and behave abnormally. The increase in stress causes a poor immune system and poor egg quality. These cramped conditions are a breeding ground for different diseases and viruses. To combat these illnesses, the animals are injected with antibiotics, which allows the strains of viruses to become resistant. This is the main reason for the rise in food born illnesses. Also the conditions of these are factories are very poor. There are cases where animal feces get into the meat that is being shipped out for sale. The theory of these factory farm is quantity over quality. They have a quota of meet that they need to ship out, no matter what means they have to achieve this by.

__Opposing View Points-__

The meat packing industry has many positive sides to it also. In recent years the sanitation laws and regulations have become more strigent. With the creation of OSHA, FDA, and US Labor Rights; the conditions for the workers and the meat has become much safer place. With periodic checks, and tough punishments, the companies have reconsidered the way they do their work. The huge meat and polutry companies keep the prices down also. With the mass production of meat, more is produced in a shorter period of time keeping the prices down. Small farms will take much longer to produce the same amount of product. With the high cost of feed, housing, and labor; the small farms have to raise the price of their product to even make a profit. The meat packing industry also employes over half a million workers. This is much more than small farms employ, usually only using family memebers and not hiring other workers.