Factory Farming: Food in Exchange of Morals, Research Paper Example

Introduction

What constitutes ‘good food’? For many individuals, they are very much concern on what nutritional value the food they eat would actually provide them. Notably, it could be understood that the worth of food that is taken in by a person could be measured through the nutritional elements that make it up. However, is there any time that a person actually things of where his or her food comes from? Considerably, some do tend to know where their food comes from, especially when the issue is directed towards safety of such resources. Such concern however is still centered on the being of humans, their overall capacity to accept food and utilize it as a source of their strength as well as with the nutritional value that their body requires for maintenance and development.

In this discussion though, the distinction of food source is directed on how the resources are being raised. Concentrated on meat sources, this presentation intends to bring about a sense of recognition and understanding on what factory farming is all about. Presenting the facts about the said form of raising animals, this discussion aims to raise the question of whether or not it is important that animals, being the top source of human sustenance, be treated as living creatures or as mere commodities that provide humans with what they need.

What is Factory Farming?

Factory farming is a term used to define the condition of mass raising that meat producers take into account especially when it comes to creating possible ways to provide the needed meat volume in the market. Meat producers are noted to own hectares of confined facilities where they keep and feed the animals regularly. Turkeys, chickens, cows, pigs and other common meat resources are kept within cages injected with particular medications to prevent contamination that could affect the whole population of the animals housed in the facility. Some others are fed with particular vitamins to make sure that they eat a lot, get bigger faster, thus making them ready for the slaughter house at a shorter pace.

The main aim in this form of raising animals is to meet the market’s demand for more meat. About 65% of the overall population around the globe would rather prefer food or meals with meat than those with pure vegetables and fruits on them (Nierenburg, 2005). The protein and other important nutrition sourced out from meat have been considered by the human population as something that was extremely important for their health. Besides that, a distinct taste of meat actually makes them highly demanded for in the market.

This is the reason why meat producers thought that it would be easier to respond to such demand [while earning for themselves a high level of profit] if they would be able to contain the way the animal grow, develop and reproduce. This way, they would be able to monitor how they would be able to respond to the market’s rate of demand for meat. The old and traditional way of farming and raising animals seem to not fit such a form of goal; nevertheless, there are particular issues about factory farming, a matter that includes both values and ethical considerations towards the living condition of animals.

Traditional Farming versus Factory Farming

Traditional farming is basically the old way of raising and producing food for consumption. Animals raised in farms undergo proper points of nourishment for a particularly controlled time. In such setup, animals are able to engage in relationships, handle particular activities that are considered regular among their kinds. Specifically, in this process of raising animals, the animals themselves are allowed to have a life. They are treated as living creatures, sometimes even given names by their keepers, forming bonds with humans and other animals as well. They are allowed to graze while they are being monitored and protected by their keeper. Most likely, it could be analyzed that through this process, animals are put in a setting that they are actually supposed to be grazed in.

Animals have natural capacities, they are born with natural capabilities to look for their own food, to forge and to make a living. Domesticating them and putting them in a more confined environment specifically alters some of their skills; however, even though this is the case, it could be considered that in actual farms, they are allowed to have a taste of life, as much as they can before they are sold to the butcher for slaughter.

In factory farming procedures, animals are merely considered as living entities; instead, they are seen as products, sources of food and source of money as well. Relatively, it could be noted that in this setup, the keepers do not really care about the living condition of the animals, they are only concerned on how fast these animals could be submitted for slaughter so that they are able to gain the money they tend to get from the market they serve. Most often than not, animals in factory farms undergo particular procedures that specifically prepare them for the slaughter schedule. These procedures are supposed to increase the capacity of the animals to reproduce, to gain weight faster, thus making it easier for the producers to release the animals to the butchers making them ready to be sold in the market for relative public consumption.

Grounds of Moral Distinction on Factory Farming Practices

As realized from the distinct discussion on the difference of traditional farming and factory farming, there are two specific matters that identifies them differently from each other. One is that of the life that the animals are able to recognize. Another is that of the process by which they are treated by their keepers depending on the farms that they are kept in. According to Edward DeBerri’s Catholic Social Teaching, animals were given by God as supporting creatures that are supposed to give practical manners by which human life could become easier to tend with. Nevertheless, it could not be denied that in the record of the bible, animals were created before humans; a particular point of indication that God himself has a great sense of giving importance to these creatures. Creating them with different features and different capacities, they all exist to contribute to balancing the current systems operating in the environment (100).

Relatively, such concern for the value that animals play in nature and towards the being of humans, has began to diminish at the entrant of the problem on population increase and consumption demand progression. The more people there are, the more meat is expected to be demanded for the sake of gaining particular food resources dedicated for human sustenance. Not only that, the emergence of fast food businesses around the globe even contributed to such increase of demand for meat resources. This created a great source of dilemma for meat producers. This is why at the onset of the 1980’s when fast food establishments started to flood the market, a disdain process of producing meat has become a common goal for meat producers (Lott, et al, 2001).

Somehow, the producers cannot wait for farmers to send in the animals into their shops anymore; they needed more animals to help them meet their quota within the specified deadline. Relatively, this meant that they need faster developing animals and fatter [leaner] source of meat that could provide them better resources of food products to sell in the market. Such dilemma introduced the opportunity of raising more animals at one time and immediately assuring reproduction of new generations of animals that would take the place of those who are already delivered to the slaughter houses. Giving the animals medication and growth vitamins, the said creatures become accustomed to eating thus making them fatter faster.

During their stay in the raising facilities, these animals are however dealt with cruelty. The preparations they undergo are seemingly violent enough for them to take; even the young of the said animals receive maltreatment from the hands of their keepers making their lives seemingly miserable. It was as if they were born to die. Putting them in contained cages where they have to share with other animals of their own kind in numbers that are not suitable for them to even make a move, these animals are expected to eat and grow fast for them to be sold immediately thus producing more meat for the market to consume at a much faster pace (Nierenburg, 2005).

This condition of raising animals alters the natural process of growth that animals are supposed to take into account. It should be noted that animals were created to primary support the balance of nature (PETA) . This means that they have more to life than simply being eaten by hungry humans. They are expected to take a part in the process of aiding the earth to produce its own medicine to the conditions that it undergoes as it develops through the years. For instance, animal manure is supposed to be used by the land for fertilization. This natural exchange of values between the animals and other members of the environment specifically creates balance thus allowing more chances of producing good and safe food resource for humans. True, the process might be timely, nevertheless, the results are immensely positive for human survival.

Another point to give attention to is that lie humans, animals are also entitled to grow, experience things and realize the joy that life is supposed to bring. Though they may not have sophisticated brains as do humans, they have an instinct that serves as their point of direction and guidance as to what they should do and how they should react upon matters surrounding them. Considerably, they have the capacity to develop a practical process of adjusting to life, living it and becoming engage d in it through the activities they embrace every day. They are entitled to the aspect of cognitive development. All these facts portray the idea that animals were not made merely to serve as human food. They had their own roles to fill in the environment and have their own life to a better and maintained point of living when they are being domesticated by their keepers.

Conclusion

The bible reiterates how Adam was given the task to name all the animals in the garden as one of his first tasks on earth (DeBerri, 2000). Given such a task, Adam learned how to appreciate the awesome characteristics of animals. Distinctively, this means that God has placed humans over the animals to use them as protectors and not as invaders to the process of living of each animal. God did allow humans to eat meat, however, he points out that the process of obtaining meat should be handled in a respective manner, Animals are living creatures that deserve to be cared for, to be loved, to be nourished and to be given attention to by their keepers. However, as seen and understood from the presentation in this paper, it could be realized that factory farming fails to respond to such requirement from humans. As for a fact, the said procedure defies the commandment of God to respect animals. No, he did not keep the humans nor directed them to keep away from the animals. He has put humans over the distinct need of deciding what he should do with the animals he has been tasked to name. even though the decision lies in the hands of humans, it is simply not right to respond to the situation through fueling the profit-driven organization to create massive decisions that would impose on the need to treat animals unfairly, not allowing them to realize the real meaning of life as they are supposed to. True, factory farming defies all the natural laws of animal growth thus developing particular social and environmental problems along the way.

References

DeBerri, E. (2000). Catholic Social Teaching, Our Best Kept Secret. Center for Concern.

Lott, Dale F.; Hart, Benjamin L. (2001). “Applied ethology in a nomadic cattle culture”. Applied Animal Ethology (Elsevier B.V.) 5 (4): 309–319.

Nierenburg, Danielle (2005) Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry. Worldwatch Paper 171: 5

PETA Website. Factory Farming: Cruelty to Animals. http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming.aspx. (Retrieved on November 11, 2013).

World Society for the Protection of Animals. Inside the factory farms. http://www.wspa-international.org/wspaswork/factoryfarming/insidefactoryfarms.aspx. (Retrieved on November 11, 2013).