A Food & Water Watch analysis of USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture data, released yesterday, shows that America’s industrial animal agriculture industry is raising more animals on factory farms than ever before, producing unprecedented amounts of waste. California leads the nation in volume of waste produced by mega-dairies.

Key findings in California include:

• More confined animals: California leads the nation in the number of dairy cows on factory farms — 1.7 million, more than twice that of the next highest state, Wisconsin.
• More confined animals, bigger farms: The average California mega-dairy herd rose 72 percent from 2002 to 2022, up to an average herd size today of 2,300 animals.
• Fewer total farms: As factory farms take over, the number of small dairies raising animals outside the factory farm system plummeted. California lost three-quarters of its family-scale dairies from 2002 to 2022.
• More waste: California factory farms produce 1.5 times the waste of the state’s human population. Mega-dairies alone produce a nation-high 9.2 billion pounds of manure annually — as much as 50 million people, or nearly four times the waste produced by the LA metro area.

Meanwhile, recent Food & Water Watch research detailed how the factory farm industry has had an immensely destabilizing impact on water security in the state.

“California’s massive mega-dairies are wreaking havoc on small farmers, rural communities, public health and the environment. As factory farming expands and pollution goes unchecked, thousands of people are left with contaminated drinking water,” said Food & Water Watch California Director Chirag Bhakta. “Governor Newsom and state legislators must act quickly to safeguard California’s air, water, health and independent farmers — it’s time for a factory farm moratorium now.”