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Factory farming is defined as the extreme confinement of livestock for commercial use. This agricultural technique was invented by scientists in the 1960s in an effort to maximize efficiency and production so that farms could manage a growing population and higher demand for meat. It was designed to use as little space as possible, require less maintenance, and allow farmers to manage their animals quickly.

Opposition

Many people wonder why factory farming is still in effect. It probably comes as no surprise that a method that has been around for decades might not seem like the best answer anymore.

Many ask what purpose this controversial technique serves. Animal rights activists protest factory farming for several reasons. They continue to demand freedom and comfort for the livestock on factory farms and for farmers to cease the use of synthetic hormones. These protestors also argue that the mistreatment and slaughter of animals for human consumption is inhumane and morally wrong.

Environmentalists also take issue with factory farms for their negative impact on the earth. These farms release huge amounts of methane gas and waste into the land, air, and sea and their emissions are not closely monitored. There are plenty of people who oppose the goliath factory farms, so why is factory farming still around?

Why Factory Farming Is Still Around

The answer is simple: scientists, economists, and farmers agree that factory farming is still the only way to keep up.

The fact of the matter is that, while the demand for commercially produced, affordable meat may be decreasing, it is still high, primarily because there are more people on the planet than ever before. Consumer awareness regarding the consumption of animal products is on the rise and thousands have been convinced to stop eating meat, but vegetarians and vegans are far outnumbered by the millions of people that make meat-eating a part of their daily routine. Aside from the fact that people just like meat, there are a number of logistical reasons for keeping this old technique alive.

There are countless alternatives to factory farming available, but there are a few reasons that they are not being executed on a larger scale.

Organic and free-range farming is often high maintenance and costly. Allowing cows, pigs, and chickens to roam free requires much more land, water, food, labor, and other resources than factory farming. Roaming animals consume more in general than feedlot animals because they are expending energy through exercise. Their frequent movement also makes them susceptible to changes in their fat and muscle makeup, which need to be closely monitored in order to keep the animals suitable for human consumption.

Grass-fed and pasture-raised animals present similar issues. Animals on a grass diet gain weight slower than they would if they were eating a manufactured, concentrated feed designed to encourage speedy maturation. Their bodies are even more prone to frequent changes with as much ground as they tend to cover in a day. Furthermore, rounding up and transporting roaming animals requires manpower, time, and fuel.

With an estimated 7.5 billion hungry mouths to feed as of 2019, many non-commercial farming methods are not feasible for satisfying consumer demand. Large livestock farms desire high production and low cost above all else, and alternatives to factory farming are unappealing because they significantly decrease efficiency and profit.

Possible Solutions

Those in favor of and those opposed to factory farming might be able to find some common ground somewhere in between eating commercially raised meat daily and becoming vegan.

Many impassioned activists have proposed that everyone should transition to veganism and stop the production of meat altogether, but this is just not an option for everybody. Meat and dairy are excellent sources of protein and most people rely on animal products for part or most of their diet. In addition, vegan alternatives on the market carry a price tag that is well out of reach for many, making the consumption of animal products non-negotiable for the vast majority of the population.

What You Can Do

There are a few practices that you can adopt to help mitigate the problems that factory farming presents. By making intentional choices about where your food is coming from and how you interact with the planet, you can make positive change without having to sacrifice your entire lifestyle.

Purchase Meat Locally

By purchasing meat from small, local farms, you can know more about how it gets to your table. If mistreatment of animals and a high carbon footprint are problematic for you, steer clear of factory farms and opt instead for sustainable farms where you can ask questions about how animals are raised and how waste is disposed of.

Reduce Your Intake of Unsustainable Meats

If you're willing to cut back on meat in your diet, prioritize eliminating meats that are the most harmful to the environment. Lamb, beef, and pork do the most damage to the planet through their production, manufacturing, and transport. The most environmentally-friendly choice of meat is poultry, with chicken being the most sustainable option of them all.

Be Kinder to the Environment

You can make other eco-friendly choices that aren't even related to eating meat. Taking up practices like recycling and composting can make a positive difference and you should use reusable products whenever you can. You can also try carpooling or public transportation to reduce your own carbon emissions.

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Is There a Way to End Inhumane Factory Farming Techniques?

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Factory farming is defined as the extreme confinement of livestock for commercial use. This agricultural technique was invented by scientists in the 1960s in an effort to maximize efficiency and production so that farms could manage a growing population and higher demand for meat.

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Finding solutions for sustainable livestock farming

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A cow lazily swishes its tail at a persistent buzzing, but the drone maintains its station hovering above the herd. The images it collects are analyzed with data from the animals and an array of sensors around the farm. A few miles away, the farmer acts on the information and decides to move the herd. Virtual gates open in an invisible fence and the drone emits a signal that stirs the animals into movement. Such futuristic cattle farming is not so far away.

Farming animals for food raises complex questions. Livestock's versatility makes them central to the survival of millions of people in marginal areas. Meat and dairy are excellent sources of protein, vitamins, and minerals, and when managed correctly livestock contribute to important ecosystem functions such as soil fertility. But there are concerns over the industry's sustainability. Meat is a relatively inefficient way to produce calories. Livestock use up about 40% of global arable land to deliver 20% of human calorific intake: the ratio is 12 calories of chicken for every 100 calories of grain; beef is 3 to 100. However, while livestock consume around one third of all cereal production, 86% of their plant diet comes from grass, leaves, and other foods humans cannot eat. In this way, it's argued, livestock positively contribute to food security by making the inedible, edible.

As the debate continues, so does demand. Over the last thirty years, meat and dairy consumption has tripled in low and middle-income countries, largely driven by rising prosperity and urbanization. This growth is on top of already enormous demand in developed nations: the average American consumes 222lbs of meat per year. With global demand forecast to increase a further 80% by 2030, this could place a severe strain on our ability to feed a growing population with earth's limited agricultural land. The world's 1.4 billion cattle, plus billions of pigs and chickens, already occupy two billion hectares of grasslands, of which some 700 million hectares could arguably be used more effectively to grow crops that can be eaten directly by humans. One potential solution, unless we all become vegetarians, is to make farmed animals more productive. The average farm animals may not be meeting their genetic potential when it comes to production; but techniques and technologies are being developed and deployed to close that gap and keep meat on the menu.

Farmers have always striven for efficiency. For millennia they have selectively bred animals to increase their inherent resilience and productivity: in the USA, dairy cows produce four times more milk than 75 years ago. With genome sequencing, artificial insemination, and embryo transfer, science could soon bring some animals to peak productivity. Supporting this is better nutrition, improving an animal's conversion of feed into protein. Adding natural enzymes and organic acids increases the digestibility of feeds, enabling animals to draw more nutrition from a greater variety of poorer plants. It also supports a healthier gut making them less susceptible to disease. A growing understanding of animals' precise nutritional needs is producing feeds tailored to optimize their energy, protein, and vitamins while improving overall wellbeing-better yields and healthier herds.

At the heart of most people's vision of future farming is technology, and the drones, sensors, and wearables of precision farming all contribute to greater efficiency. Drones are increasingly used to monitor the health and productivity of both animals and the land they graze. Able to operate over vast swathes of difficult terrain, a drone fitted with infrared sensors and multi-spectrum, high-definition cameras can send real-time images of herds and flocks. This helps farmers to quickly and easily find lost animals, identify newborns, and diagnose sickness in herds and individual animals. Equally, drones show the condition of pasture, informing decisions on moving animals for food, water, or safety. It may even be possible to teach livestock to follow a drone like a high-tech, long-distance sheepdog.

Drones will be just one of many digital inputs feeding information back to the farmer. 3D cameras at water troughs can accurately assess an animal's weight and carcass grade for optimum yield, while also identifying possible illness. Thermal imaging cameras in the cow shed can detect the inflammatory condition mastitis that reduces milk production, and camera systems in chicken sheds can monitor thousands of individual birds to spot the behavior changes associated with many poultry problems. Smart collars and wearables could one day monitor everything from fertility to health, with E-tags clipped to the ear constantly measuring body temperature while Bluetooth-enabled sweat strips send reports on sodium, potassium, and glucose levels. Even a cow's breath can be analyzed for signs of nutritional problems. Armed with the ubiquitous smartphone, a farmer can use apps for on-the-spot diagnoses such as detecting metabolic diseases in cows and pigs from just a few snapshots.

Livestock farmers have been early adopters of robotics, and rapid advances are being made in everything from automatic feeders to herder bots. This technology is more than labor saving: automated milking robots enable cows to be milked according to their individual biorhythms, improving their health and yield. At the same time, robots are capturing vast amounts of information. All this digital data will synchronize with farm management software to provide the farmer with an overview of the health of a whole herd as well as specific actions for individual animals. An extension of this is cybernetic grazing that uses GPS and animal-mounted collars to measure the height of grass and move the herd to fresh pastures by opening and closing virtual fences defined by stimuli based on sight, sound, or shock.

Not all improvements are high-tech. Silvopastoral systems, where animals graze among shrubs and trees with edible leaves or fruits, produce more milk and meat as well as being better for the animals and environment. In Colombia, planting the shrub Leucaena with pasture grass increased protein by 64%, while elsewhere it is credited with higher milk production. One of the most radical possibilities for meeting our future needs is cellular agriculture - growing animal-based protein products from cells instead of animals. Growing meat in factories resembling breweries would cut out the need for feed, water, and medicines while freeing up valuable agricultural land. The science and the economics are still being worked out, but it could make a valuable contribution to meeting the challenge, since it seems that the desire for meat growing, not going away.

We asked some big questions about living a better life. Discover more about how we can overcome the world's biggest challenges at natgeo.com/questionsforabetterlife

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A cow lazily swishes its tail at a persistent buzzing, but the drone maintains its station hovering above the herd. The images it collects are analyzed with data from the animals and an array of sensors around the farm. A few miles away, the farmer acts on the information and decides to move the herd.

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Native to the mountain forests of southwest China, the giant panda is one of the most beloved animals in the world.

Giant pandas are identified by their distinctive black and white coloring. Their ears, muzzle, eyes, shoulders and legs are black while the rest of their body is white. Their thick hair keeps them warm in the cool, wet mountain zones. When on all fours, giant pandas average between 60-100 cm (2-3 ft.) tall at the shoulder and between 1-2 m (4-6 ft.) long. They can weigh between 100-115 kg (220-250 lb.), with males being larger than females.

One of the interesting evolutionary traits of the panda is their protruding wrist bone that acts like a thumb. This helps the pandas hold bamboo while they munch on it with their strong molar teeth. Bamboo makes up nearly the entire diet of the panda. Due to the low nutritional value of bamboo, pandas need to eat 10-20 kg (20-40 lb.) a day. Occasionally pandas will eat other available food, including small rodents, eggs, fish and other flora. Bamboo provides a good amount of water, but pandas need to supplement this with fresh water daily.

When pandas are between 4-8 years of age, they reach maturity and can reproduce. However, female pandas are only able to become pregnant for 2-3 days each spring! In this small window of time, male and female pandas find each other through scents and calls similar to that of goats or sheep. They do not roar like other bears.

Between 95 and 160 days of becoming pregnant, the female panda will give birth. The newborn cub is blind, hairless, and tiny, weighing only 85-140 g (3-5 oz.). Completely helpless, the cub cannot move much on its own for nearly 3 months. In turn, the mother is very protective and careful in tending to her cub during this time.

Conservation Status

With only around 2060 pandas living in the wild, the giant panda is considered vulnerable of extinction by the IUCN Red List. Due to the fact that pandas reproduce so infrequently, it is very difficult for their population to recover from such a low point.

One the main reasons that panda populations have declined is habitat destruction. As the human population in China continues to grow, pandas' habitat gets taken over by development, pushing them into smaller and less livable areas. Habitat destruction also leads to food shortages. Pandas feed on several varieties of bamboo that bloom at different times of the year. If one type of bamboo is destroyed by development, it can leave the pandas with nothing to eat during the time it normally blooms, increasing the risk of starvation.

To combat this issue, the Chinese government has actively worked to restore and protect bamboo habitat, and these measures have shown positive results. State Forestry Administration surveys have concluded that the panda population has increased since the Chinese government's actions, and in 2016, the IUCN upgraded the giant panda's status from Endangered to Vulnerable.

While an increasing panda population is good news for now, it is predicted that climate change will eliminate over 35% of the panda's bamboo habitat in the next 80 years.

What You Can Do to Help

Wildlife reserves have been set up in parts of China to make sure the pandas have a home, and care is taken to make sure they survive in the wild. Researchers continue to study how pandas breed in an effort to increase the population. You can help by donating or adopting a panda through the World Wildlife Fund.

Giant Panda Distribution

Panda Resources

More Panda Stuff from Animal Fact Guide

Blog Posts about the Giant Panda

About the Author

P.A. Smith is a middle school Language Arts teacher. He is also a contributing editor of My House Rabbit.

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Giant Panda Bear Facts | Endangered Animals

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Native to the mountain forests of southwest China, the giant panda is one of the most beloved animals in the world. Giant pandas are identified by their distinctive black and white coloring. Their ears, muzzle, eyes, shoulders and legs are black while the rest of their body is white.

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China declares pandas no longer endangered—but threats persist

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Competition with native wildlife could deter efforts to boost populations of the famous black-and-white bear in its native habitat.

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Factory Farming: What It Is and Why It’s a Problem

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Factory farms are disastrous for the environment, nearby communities, consumer health, and animal welfare.

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How is science related to math?

Where was science invented?

This article was most recently revised and updated by

science, any system of knowledge that is concerned with the physical world and its phenomena and that entails unbiased observations and systematic experimentation. In general, a science involves a pursuit of knowledge covering general truths or the operations of fundamental laws.

Science can be divided into different branches based on the subject of study. The physical sciences study the inorganic world and comprise the fields of astronomy, physics, chemistry, and the Earth sciences. The biological sciences such as biology and medicine study the organic world of life and its processes. Social sciences like anthropology and economics study the social and cultural aspects of human behaviour.

Science is further treated in a number of articles. For the history of Western and Eastern science, see science, history of. For the conceptualization of science and its interrelationships with culture, see science, philosophy of. For the basic aspects of the scientific approach, see physical science, principles of; and scientific method.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Erik Gregersen.

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Science | Definition, Disciplines, & Facts

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Science, any system of knowledge that is concerned with the physical world and its phenomena and that entails unbiased observations and systematic experimentation. In general, a science involves a pursuit of knowledge covering general truths or the operations of fundamental laws.

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The result is a unique exploration of the science behind global warming, and an intimate portrait of a global community of researchers racing to understand our planet's changing climate.

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In recent years climate science has come under increasing attack, so geologist Simon Lamb took his camera to find out what is really going on from his climate science colleagues. Simon followed scientists at work in the Arctic, Antarctic, Southern Ocean, New Zealand, Europe and the USA.

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As eye-opening as "Blackfish" and as inspiring as "An Inconvenient Truth". A new cut from executive producer Leonardo DiCaprio now exclusively streaming on Netflix.

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Newsela | What's the difference between weather and climate?

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Weather refers to short-term conditions in the atmosphere. Climate refers to conditions over longer periods of time, usually 30 years or more.

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Newsela | Nearly 200 nations join Paris agreement to fight global warming