Eat cheaper, live shorter: CAFOs are hazardous to your health

 

Anna Kleiber reports:

CAFOs dominate livestock production in the U.S., producing a large majority of the country's meat, dairy and eggs. While only a small fraction of farms in the U.S. are CAFOs, it is estimated that around 99% of U.S. livestock is raised in them. These operations produce half of the nation's animal waste, contributing significantly environmental and public health concerns, including water and air pollution. 

In Wisconsin, a CAFO generally refers to a livestock operation with 1,000 animal units, with animal units based on the weight of the animals, according to DHS. Wisconsin currently has 293 permitted CAFOs, 134 of which are in the northeast part of the state, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Of those, the majority are dairy, but the state also has hog, beef, chicken and turkey CAFOs. 

Large-scale dairy farms produce over 60% of the nation's milk supply and are cheaper to run than smaller-scale farms. And other large-scale farms producing beef, turkey, pork and chicken are able to provide more affordable meat options to a larger number of people.  [emphasis added]

Related posts:

In the United States, CAFO egg-laying operations can have as many as 6 million chickens. In Canada, the average is 25,000.  (2/19/2025)

Factory farms (aka CAFOs) and bird flu.  (1/24/2025)

The rise of CAFOs and decline of the family farm in 2 graphs.  (3/24/2024)