Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
underwriting factory farms
we can't say it any better or more powerfully than the
union of concerned scientists did in its 2008 report,
“cafos uncovered”:
“the costs we pay as a society to support [factory
farms]—in the form of taxpayer subsidies,
pollution, harm to rural communities, and poorer
public health—is much too high. . .the bottom line is
that society is currently propping up an undesirable
form of animal agriculture with enormous subsidies
and lack of accountability for its externalized costs.”
below are just a few of the many costs exacted by animal
factories on the taxpayer bill:
the activity
the cost
distributing and applying manure to
$1,160,000,000
fields
per year
falling property values
$26,000,000,000
(total loss)
animal agriculture's antibiotic overuse
$1,500,000,000 -
and its public health impacts
$3,000,000,000 per year
remediating manure “lagoon” leaks
$4,100,000,000
from pig and cow (dairy) facilities
(total cost)
