A concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO – better known as a factory farm – is a facility where large numbers of animals are raised in confined, cramped conditions. A few decades ago, CAFOs were very uncommon. Today, the vast majority of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in CAFOs. Over the course of this four-part series, we’ll learn about how factory farms took over the American agriculture system, what effect they’ve had on rural communities in the Midwest, and we’ll meet some of the farmers, advocates and rural organizers fighting against them as part of the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment. How to Fight a Factory Farm is produced by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a member of the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment. This feed also includes IATP’s two previous podcast series, Uprooted: Talking COP27 and The Farm Bill Uprooted.
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A concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO – better known as a factory farm – is a facility where large numbers of animals are raised in confined, cramped conditions. A few decades ago, CAFOs were very uncommon. Today, the vast majority of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in CAFOs. Over the course of this four-part series, we’ll learn about how factory farms took over the American agriculture system, what effect they’ve had on rural communities in the Midwest, and we’ll meet some of the farmers, advocates and rural organizers fighting against them as part of the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment. How to Fight a Factory Farm is produced by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a member of the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment. This feed also includes IATP’s two previous podcast series, Uprooted: Talking COP27 and The Farm Bill Uprooted.
The rise of factory farms in the U.S. didn't happen by accident. Corporate influence over our political system has created policies that subsidize and incentivize the industrial model and allow factory farms to pollute with impunity, even creating new revenue streams that greenwash their climate impacts. Our food system does not have to be this way. Members of the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment are working to build sustainable alternatives to factory farms while advocating for policy reforms to dismantle the CAFO system and level the playing field for independent family farmers.
In the final episode of the series, hear from Frank James of Dakota Rural Action, Rebecca Wolf of Food and Water Watch, Bonnie Haugen of Land Stewardship Project and Noah Earle of Missouri Rural Crisis Center on how we got into this mess, and how to get out of it.
How to Fight a Factory Farm is produced by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a member of the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment. Thank you to our intern, Anna Karns, for her assistance producing this series, and to Noah Earle for the use of his song “Fry an Egg” for our theme music. Learn more about the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment at fightfactoryfarms.org.
References, further reading and ways to get involved
Support the Farm System Reform Act
Packers and Stockyards Act In-Depth, Bryce Oates, 2024
Why we need an Agricultural Market Volatility Relief Program, CFFE, 2023
Biogas or Bull****? Friends of the Earth & Socially Responsible Agriculture Project, 2024
How to Fight a Factory Farm
A concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO – better known as a factory farm – is a facility where large numbers of animals are raised in confined, cramped conditions. A few decades ago, CAFOs were very uncommon. Today, the vast majority of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in CAFOs. Over the course of this four-part series, we’ll learn about how factory farms took over the American agriculture system, what effect they’ve had on rural communities in the Midwest, and we’ll meet some of the farmers, advocates and rural organizers fighting against them as part of the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment. How to Fight a Factory Farm is produced by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a member of the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment. This feed also includes IATP’s two previous podcast series, Uprooted: Talking COP27 and The Farm Bill Uprooted.
