Thursday, May 5, 2011

DEBATE: FACTORY FARMING is GOOD

Debate: Factory Farming is good

We should keep factory farming, because it is useful in many ways. I would like to make two points. First I would like to talk about cost and efficiency. Then, my second point that I would like to point out are health benefits. Lastly, my third point is about environment.

1. Cost and Efficiency is a good use in factory farming.
A. Cost
1. The population’s demand for meat can be fulfilled at an acceptable price (wordpress.com)
2. Production of meat at a much rapid speed, almost continuously at a very inexpensive rate. (wordpress.com)
3. This intensive type of farming brings meat down to a price affordable to the poorest in our community on a regular basis. (idebate.org)
4. Customers save money on food purchases. (realtruth.org)
B. Efficiency
1. The ability to efficiently produce and distribute huge quantities of food to feed large cities. (realtruth.org)
2. According to the USDA, the sale of organic agricultural products increased by 20 percent each year throughout the 1990s and is predicted to grow 9 to 16 percent annually through 2010.14 It has also become more common to see foods labeled "raised without antibiotics," "pasture raised," or carrying other important information consumers increasingly want about what they eat. Farmers' markets, food cooperatives, and community supported agriculture (CSA) programs continue to grow in popularity, making local, sustainably produced food more available. (sustainabletable.org)

2. There are health benefits in factory farming.
A. Cages
1. Cages protect hens from soil borne diseases, improve overall health, allow caretakers to inspect hens daily, produce cleaner and safer eggs and improve flock livability. (cornellsun.com)

B. Health
1. Protect crops and animals from outside of the farms
2. Fortunately, it’s possible to produce food without threatening our health – sustainable farms do it every day! Unlike their industrial counterparts, sustainable farms operate effectively without jeopardizing the health and safety of their animals, workers, neighbors and the general public. (sustainabletable.org)
3. A growing body of scientific research is showing that sustainable, pasture-raised, and organic foods provide significant health benefits for consumers. In addition to being raised without synthetic hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and chemical fertilizers, sustainable meat is more nutritious than meat produced by industrial agriculture. (sustainalbetable.org)
4. As a result, they have high levels of glycogen in their tissues, the sugars in muscles that give animals the energy to move. This makes their meat tender, more flavorful and less likely to carry bacteria. (sustainabletable.org)
5. “Sustainable farms raise their animals on pasture, where they eat the grasses and greens that their bodies are naturally adapted to eat, resulting in healthier animals and leaner cuts of meat. Animals raised on grass and forage also have higher levels of the fatty acids that are good for us to eat, such as omega-3’s and CLA fats that help fight disease and balance out our diets.” (sustainalbetable.org)

C. Environment
1. The best way to reduce environmental impacts is to increase efficiency by utilizing technology, genetic advances, and improved management. (cornellsun.com)
2. Keep crops in safe environments

Conclusion: WHIP

“Factory Farming is the practice of raising usually thousands of animals in close confinement and high density with the purpose of producing meat, eggs, or milk in the fastest, most efficient, and cheapest way possible for human consumption.” (Belsandia.com) Factory farms are industrial mass-scale factories used to house millions of animals including pigs, cows, sheep, and chickens (actionforourplanet.com). The major four food companies in the US produce 81% of cows, 73% of sheep, 57% of pigs, and 50% of chickens. This shows that factory farms are useful in producing all of these animals in mass. (Belsandia.com) One of the biggest benefit of factory farming is that it efficiently produces a mass amount of food at a relatively low cost. (envirowriters.wordpress.com)
The arguments that we talked about were Cost, Efficiency, Environment, Social Benefits, and Health Benefits. The arguments the government talked about were


Summarize arguments

To wrap it up, this is why factory farming is useful and should be allowed.

I challenge you to listen to our arguments and choose the side that protects the low cost of food, the quality of our food, and the natural environment of the earth.