Mapping America’s Factory Farms
Food & Water Watch now proudly unveils the latest version of our Factory Farm Map, which charts the concentration of factory-farmed animals across the country.
It’s called the food “industry” for a reason. If you’ve seen Food Inc., you understand why. In that film, and here at Food & Water Watch, some careful analysis reveals the massive network of production and distribution that has become our food system. Thanks to advertising, marketing and fancy packaging, the images we create for ourselves of the places where our food comes from are often in direct contrast to the reality of where most of it is produced. Much of the time, we may be thinking farm, but we’re really getting factory.
How do these factory farms affect us? It’s not always obvious or easy to quantify, but factory farms have a direct and serious impact on our food, our health, our communities, our economy and our environment. And while consumers are becoming increasingly aware of where their food is produced, there are still many aspects of our industrial food system that are conveniently hidden from view, particularly the immense size and scope of the factory farms (official name: Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) that dot our landscape.
So, where exactly are these factory farms and why should you care?
Food & Water Watch now proudly unveils the latest version of our Factory Farm Map, which charts the concentration of factory-farmed animals across the country. This interactive map illustrates the geographic shift in where and how food is raised in the U.S. and allows anyone to quickly search for the highest concentration of animals by region, state and county.
Our researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Census using information from 1997, 2002 and the most current census, 2007, for beef and dairy cattle, hogs, broiler meat chickens and egg-laying operations. What did they find? The Factory Farm Map illustrates a story of growth; the big farms are getting bigger. And if you look at what states have the largest concentration of factory farms, you will see certain correlations: disappearing independent farmers, intense pollution, rural economic hardship, etc.
The Factory Farm Map provides undeniable evidence of the corporate concentration that exists in the U.S., and it reveals the indelible stamp that industry has on the way we treat our food. Ohio, for example, is the nation’s second largest egg producer. But all of those layer chickens produce quite a lot of manure, causing major problems with spills and contamination, much of which has been linked to recent incidents of algal bloom in places like Grand Lake St. Marys and Lake Erie. In California, a state that many people think of when they talk about sustainable food, the size of factory farms has increased tremendously, particularly in the Central Valley where the number of dairy cows increased by 50 percent in 10 years.
Across the nation, while the number of farms raising livestock has decreased, the size of farms raising livestock has increased. In some places this is due to leniency in environmental regulation. And the growth of factory farms directly threatens independent farmers through unfair pricing and lack of competition. It also threatens consumer health through pollution and widespread contamination like last summer’s egg recall. That’s the price we pay for our food to be cheap and convenient.
The Factory Farm Map is a tool designed to show what is happening with our food system and the desperate need for change in our food policy. The Food Safety and Modernization Act is a recent example of some the change struggling to take place. Take a look at a few states, including their rankings, charts, and general facts. You might be surprised by what you find. Most importantly, keep in mind what all of this concentration means for you as a consumer. We hope this map helps you see the big picture, and that it inspires you to help make positive changes to our broken food system. The Factory Farm Map and the companion report can be found at www.factoryfarmmap.org.
-Rich Bindell
A Time to Give Thanks…
An interactive map of this magnitude does not get produced overnight. The Food & Water Watch Factory Farm Map is possible thanks to the magnificent efforts of our researchers who worked endless hours crunching numbers and analyzing data provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Census from 1997, 2002, and 2007. We also need to thank our talented web-related staff and everyone who infused the data into a highly technical but user-friendly and graphically pleasing interactive map. This includes our friends at New Signature who served as our interactive map specialists. Finally, thank you to the staff on our communications team who are currently promoting the map as much as possible so that it ends up being the topic of conversation at your next holiday meal.