Factory farms housing hundreds or thousands of animals in concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, threaten our health, the health of rural communities, and the health of the planet by producing massive amounts of air and water pollution, including climate-warming methane emissions, and by undermining the effectiveness of life-saving antibiotics. Most of these CAFOs escape any government oversight.
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Fertilizing feed for animals produces nitrous oxide emissions, a greenhouse gas 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. When animals eat this feed and produce manure, it generates methane emissions, which are 80 times more powerful than CO2. Plowing up grassland and forest to grow feed for animals also releases carbon from soil into the atmosphere. By contrast, plant-based and other meat and dairy alternatives produce fewer greenhouse gases and require less land.
