Factory farming is the practice of raising farm animals in confinement at high stocking density, where a farm operates as a factory — a practice typical in industrial farming by agribusinesses- Wikipedia. The term factory farming was 1st used in an American journal of economics in 1890. It is also known as industrial agriculture. This has got both positive as well as negative effects. These effects get extended to both human beings and animals. I think a majority of our society is unaware (or not bothered) of the animal life in the farms. Most of us think that these animals are provided with a happy life there. But actually this is not the case. Almost all the farms which keep animals for food are not having enough space for the animals. The poor animals are forced to lead a miserable life there.
This is actually started in 1920 after the vitamins A and D are discovered. When the animals are provided with food containing these vitamins, they don’t require any natural factors like sun light or exercise etc. This will save time and money. If the animals are not provided with this type of artificial food, the growth rate will be too low and the profit gained in turn will be less. So with an eye to make a maximum profit, the animals are fed with food containing vitamins and hormones.
The other main issue in factory farming is the diseases. In order to prevent this and to increase the profitability, antibiotics are also given to the animals. This is only one side of the coin. When we are eating these animals and these vitamins, hormones, antibiotics etc are getting absorbed to our body. This is not good for our health. So these things affect both us and animals.
Almost 99% of the factory farms are overcrowded and the animals lead a miserable life there. There may be less sun light or no light at all. They are living in a dark cage waiting for their day. They are not getting enough food or water. We don’t consider these as animals at all; they are treated as profit making tools in our business. Here I just mentioned only a small portion of the cruelties against animals. The situation is actually worse than we expect.
So we should think, being the younger generation what we can do in order to stop these cruelties. I think we all should take a vegetarian diet and try to educate others about the cruelties that are faced by the animals. And to all my amrita friends, we are very fortunate to have done something good for the animals by eating vegetarian mess in the hostels.
