Picture this.
You have just purchased yourself a large hamburger to treat yourself after a long day at work. You sink your teeth into the fluffy bun and you finish up the rest and are satisfied. Then you wonder, how is this hamburger so delicious, yet so cheap? Factory farming.
Factory farming is known as an efficient way to produce cheap meat to customers. Although this may seem like an adequate process, factory farms are known for doing many harmful things to animals, our earth, and even their customers.
In order to ban cruel factory farming throughout the United States, customers need to boycott companies who use this farming method.
Cheap things are always a great deal, especially when it comes to meat which is usually very pricey, but so is America’s medical care.
A recent study shows, “Approximately 70% of medically important antibiotics sold in the US are given to farm animals to try to manage diseases caused by crowded, stressful conditions.”1 This proves that not only animals are affected and hurt by this cruel farming method, but it also affects their customers as well who could end up getting sick by eating the contaminated meat. Cheap meat is not worth the extra expensive medical bill.
In addition, it is known that factory farming is cruel especially to animals. Before you treat yourself to a burger, ask yourself, what’s in it? “Unimaginable suffering answers Alison Eastwood, a celebrity who decided to speak out about McDonald’s cruelty. Factory farm workers caught on camera hitting, decapitating, and beating animals.”2
By purchasing from this large food chain known worldwide, you are supporting the cruel process of factory farming and animal abuse. If we all stop supporting companies who use factory farming like McDonald’s, we could encourage them to change how they get their meat and we would save animals from this cruelness.
Thankfully, many people who are educated on this topic decided to take action. There are many ways you can take action to stop climate change.
One way you can stop supporting factory farms is to stop eating meat altogether. “Observational studies comparing vegans to vegetarians and the general population report that vegans may benefit from up to a 75% lower risk of developing high blood pressure.”3 In addition, going vegan can protect you from certain cancers, and can lower your blood sugar. This study reveals that if we went vegan, we would be able to increase many aspects of our lives. We would feel less guilty for supporting businesses that treat animals terribly, and we would also increase our health which is something many people struggle with these days especially in the U.S.
Many people will argue that factory farming is a great farming method. “Factory farming was designed to use as little space as possible, require less maintenance, and allow farmers to manage their animals quickly.”4
This is why many people believe factory farming is an efficient method. Although this may be true, we need to know how factory farming affects our environment. A recent study on Environmental effects of factory farming shows that “it takes 13 pounds of grain and 2400 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef.
For every two pounds of beef, cattle exert about 88 pounds of manure. Animal waste accounts for 20% of greenhouse gases.”5 This shows that factory farming is extremely wasteful of products that could have been used more wisely. To continue, it is now proven that factory farming has a negative impact on climate change considering greenhouse gases are a main factor of it.
If we boycotted companies who used this farming method, we could save our planet from a terrifying future. If we don’t start now, who knows what our future holds.
Ava Lonteen is an eighth grade student at Clarkston Junior High School.

FOOTNOTES
1 Food & Water Watch, Factory Farming & Food Safety, foodandwaterwatch.org, (2021)
2 Alison Eastwood, End This Cruelty, mcdonaldscruelty.com, (2019)
3 Alina Petre, 6 Science Based Health Benefits of Eating Vegan, healthline.com, (September 23, 2016)
4 Doris Lin, Why We Have Factory Farming and How to End It, treehugger.com, (October 2, 2019)
5 Follow Your Heart, Environmental Effects of Factory Farming, youtube.com, (April 10, 2017)