Agribusiness Commons^™

An Hsus Report: The Impact Of Animal Agriculture On Global Warming And Climate Change, The Humane Society Of The United States

Impact of Animal Agriculture

The farm animal production sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land, contributing to soil degradation, dwindling water supplies, and air pollution. The breadth of this sector‘s impacts has been largely underappreciated. Meat, egg, and milk production are not narrowly focused on the rearing and slaughtering of farm animals. The animal agriculture sector also encompasses feed grain production which requires substantial water, energy, and chemical inputs, as well as energy expenditures to transport feed, live animals, and animal products. All of this comes at a substantial cost to the environment.

One of animal agriculture‘s greatest environmental impacts is its …

An Hsus Report: The Impact Of Industrialized Animal Agriculture On The Environment, The Humane Society Of The United States

Impact of Animal Agriculture

The continuous confinement of chickens, pigs, turkeys, cattle, and other animals raised in industrialized agricultural systems jeopardizes the animals’ welfare and degrades the environment. Factory farms produce immense quantities of animal waste and byproducts, which threaten water and air quality and contribute to climate change.

An Hsi Report: Human Health Implications Of Intensive Poultry Production And Avian Influenza, Humane Society International

HSI REPORTS

The high stocking density, stress, unhygienic conditions, lack of sunlight, and breeding practices typical of industrial poultry and egg production systems may facilitate the emergence and spread of diseases, including highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses with public health implications such as H5N1.

An Hsi Report: The Impact Of Animal Agriculture On Global Warming And Climate Change, Humane Society International

HSI REPORTS

The farm animal production sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land, contributing to soil degradation, dwindling water supplies, and air pollution. The breadth of this sector‘s impacts has been largely underappreciated. Meat, egg, and milk production are not narrowly focused on the rearing and slaughtering of farm animals. The animal agriculture sector also encompasses feed grain production which requires substantial water, energy, and chemical inputs, as well as energy expenditures to transport feed, live animals, and animal products. All of this comes at a substantial cost to the environment.

One of animal agriculture‘s greatest environmental impacts is its …

The Welfare Of Animals In The Duck Industry

Agribusiness Reports

Duck production in the United States shares many of the same intensive husbandry practices found in the chicken and turkey industries, despite being much smaller in scale. The vast majority of farmed ducks are reared in dimly lit sheds with high stocking densities and without access to water for swimming, a significant welfare concern for these aquatic animals. Lameness, feather pecking, respiratory problems, and eye infections are common, and most birds are subjected to bill-trimming, a physical mutilation known to cause pain. The stress and physical trauma of catching and crating for transport, as well as the journeys themselves, further …

The Welfare Of Animals In The Egg Industry

Agribusiness Reports

Hundreds of millions of chickens in the egg industry suffer from poor welfare throughout their lives. Male chicks, considered a byproduct of commercial hatcheries, are killed soon after they hatch. The females are typically beak-trimmed, usually with a hot blade, to prevent them from developing the abnormal pecking behaviors that manifest in substandard environments. The overwhelming majority of hens are then confined in barren battery cages, enclosures so small that the birds are unable even to spread their wings without touching the cage sides or other hens. Battery cages prevent nearly all normal behavior, including nesting, perching, and dustbathing, all …

The Welfare Of Crustaceans At Slaughter, Stephanie Yue

Agribusiness Reports

The most common methods of slaughtering crustaceans include splitting, spiking, chilling, boiling, gassing, “drowning,” and using chemicals or electricity. As crustaceans do not have a centralized nervous system, unlike vertebrates, they do not die immediately upon destruction of one discrete area, such as the brain. New technologies, including the Crustastun electrical stunning and killing system, may improve the welfare of crustaceans during slaughter, which is critically important as most if not all current techniques are inhumane.

The Welfare Of Animals In The Aquaculture Industry

Agribusiness Reports

In the United States, approximately 1.3 billion fish are raised in off-shore and land-based aquaculture systems each year for food, making them the second-most commonly farmed animal domestically, following broiler chickens. The majority of farmed fish are subject to overcrowded and restrictive conditions, which, if unchecked, can quickly deteriorate water quality, cause severe stress, and result in increased mortality. Aquaculture practices and production—including handling, grading, transport, genetic manipulation, aggression from conspecifics, predation, physiological stress, and inhumane slaughter—compromise the welfare of these animals.

The Welfare Of Animals In The Turkey Industry

Agribusiness Reports

The natural behavior and habitat of wild turkeys stand in sharp contrast to the life of turkeys commercially raised for meat. Overcrowded in automated, barren “grow-out” houses, turkeys are offered little opportunity to display their full range of complex social, foraging, and exploratory behavior. Today’s commercial breeds grow at an unnaturally rapid pace to unprecedented weights. This forced rapid growth further compromises their health and welfare, and causes them to suffer from skeletal, muscular, and other health problems, as well as painful and often crippling leg disorders. Breeding birds, unable to mate naturally due to genetic selection for fast growth …

Welfare Issues With Caponizing Chickens

Agribusiness Reports

No U.S. state or federal regulations prohibit the practice of caponizing cockerels—castrating male chickens under one year of age. Crude instructions and surgical implements are readily available to provide any amateur “hobbyist” with the means to perform this procedure, typically on fully conscious, unanesthetized birds. Caponizing has been banned in the United Kingdom due to animal welfare concerns and should be disallowed in the United States.

Welfare Issues With Transport Of Day-Old Chicks

Agribusiness Reports

In the United States, more than 9 billion chickens and 250 million turkeys are raised and slaughtered annually for food. Virtually all broiler chickens (those raised for meat) and turkeys come from strains produced by four and three primary breeding companies, respectively. Within several hours after hatching, the chicks are typically relocated from the hatchery or breeder farm to the commercial grow-out facility via ground and air transportation. Small hatcheries also send chicks to backyard “hobbyists” via U.S. Postal Service delivery. Unless carefully controlled and properly managed, transport—whether by truck or plane and regardless of scale, commercial or specialty—can subject …

The Impact Of Industrialized Animal Agriculture On Rural Communities

Agribusiness Reports

Industrialized animal agriculture production practices and systems not only jeopardize the welfare of farm animals and the environment, but also negatively impact public health, independent family farmers, and quality of life in rural communities. The tolls exacted on rural communities necessitate dramatic and immediate changes in animal agriculture.

The Impact Of Animal Agriculture On Global Warming And Climate Change

Agribusiness Reports

The farm animal production sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land, contributing to soil degradation, dwindling water supplies, and air pollution. The breadth of this sector‘s impacts has been largely underappreciated. Meat, egg, and milk production are not narrowly focused on the rearing and slaughtering of farm animals. The animal agriculture sector also encompasses feed grain production which requires substantial water, energy, and chemical inputs, as well as energy expenditures to transport feed, live animals, and animal products. All of this comes at a substantial cost to the environment.

One of animal agriculture‘s greatest environmental impacts is its …

The Impact Of Industrialized Animal Agriculture On The Environment

Agribusiness Reports

The continuous confinement of chickens, pigs, turkeys, cattle, and other animals raised in industrialized agricultural systems jeopardizes the animals’ welfare and degrades the environment. Factory farms produce immense quantities of animal waste and byproducts, which threaten water and air quality and contribute to climate change.

Human Health Implications Of Non-Therapeutic Antibiotic Use In Animal Agriculture

Agribusiness Reports

For decades, the U.S. meat industry has fed medically important antibiotics to chickens, pigs, and cattle to accelerate their weight gain and prevent disease in the stressful and unhygienic conditions that typify industrialized animal agriculture production facilities. A strong scientific consensus exists, asserting that this practice fosters antibiotic resistance in bacteria to the detriment of human health. In response to this public health threat, the European Union has banned the non-therapeutic feeding of a number of antibiotics of human importance to farm animals. Given these serious concerns as well as recent data that suggest an overall lack of financial benefit, …

Factory Farming In America

Agribusiness Reports

The True Cost of Animal Agribusiness for Rural Communities, Public Health, Families, Farmers, the Environment, and Animals

Food Safety Concerns With The Slaughter Of Downed Cattle

Agribusiness Reports

Nonambulatory cattle may be at higher risk of harboring foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and, very rarely, the infectious agent that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy, colloquially known as “mad cow disease.” The exclusion of nonambulatory cattle from slaughter for human consumption may strengthen the safety of the food supply and is a prudent measure already in place throughout the European Union.

Human Health Implications Of Live Hang Of Chickens And Turkeys On Slaughterhouse Workers

Agribusiness Reports

Nonambulatory cattle may be at higher risk of harboring foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and, very rarely, the infectious agent that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy, colloquially known as “mad cow disease.” The exclusion of nonambulatory cattle from slaughter for human consumption may strengthen the safety of the food supply and is a prudent measure already in place throughout the European Union.

Discovery: The Student Journal Of Dale Bumpers College Of Agricultural, Food And Life Sciences - Volume 9 2008, Several Authors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Instructions For Authors, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Determining The Impact Of Food Price And Income Changes On Body Weight, Christiane Schroeter, Jayson Lusk, Wallace Tyner

Agribusiness

We develop a theoretical model to identify conditions under which price and income changes are most likely to change weight. Although it is intuitive that raising the price of high-calorie food will decrease consumption of such goods; it is not clear that such an outcome will actually reduce weight. Our empirical analysis demonstrates a case where a tax on food away from home, a food intake category blamed for much of the rise in obesity, could lead to an increase in body weight; a finding which emphasizes the need to employ economic modeling when developing public policy to reduce obesity.

Contents, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Dean, Lalit R. Verma

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Bargaining Rationale For Cooperative Generic Advertising, Jennifer S. James

Agribusiness

The beggar-thy-neighbour aspect of commodity advertising means that benefits to one commodity from advertising come at the expense of other commodities. The effect can be mitigated by cooperation among groups as shown by Alston, Freebairn and James (AFJ). A drawback to AFJ’s analysis is that some cooperative outcomes require side payments from one producer group to another. This paper offers a bargaining solution as an alternative to cooperation in the case where cooperative side payments would be needed. We show that while bargaining without side payments is not as effective as cooperation at reducing beggar-thy-neighbour effects, it is a welfare …

The Long Haul: Risks Associated With Livestock Transport, Michael Greger

Agribusiness Collection

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations describes live animal transport as “ideally suited for spreading disease,” given that animals may originate from different herds or flocks and are “confined together for long periods in a poorly ventilated stressful environment.” Given the associated “serious animal and public health problems,” the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe has called for the replacement of the long-distance transportation of live animals for slaughter as much as possible to a “carcass-only trade.”

In the United States, more than 50 million live cattle, sheep, and pigs and an unknown number of the more …

Effect Of Management Decisions On Farm And Household Outcomes In An Integrated Crop-Livestock Agro-Ecosystem In Yucatan, Mexico, David Parsons, Jerome H. Cherney, Charles F. Nicholson, Robert W. Blake, Quirine M. Ketterings, Luis Ramirez-Aviles, Luis O. Tedeschi

Agribusiness

Mixed farming systems are defined by Sere and Steinfeld (1996) as those in which more than 10% of the dry matter fed to livestock comes from crop by-products or stubble, and more than 10% of the value of production comes from non-livestock farming activities. More simply, they are systems where livestock rearing and crop cultivation are, to a greater or lesser extent, integrated components of one farming system. The more integrated systems are characterized by interdependency between crop and livestock activity, optimizing circulation of locally available nutrients. The less integrated systems are those in which crop and livestock activities make …

The Economic Impact Of The Stanislaus County Food Processing Industry And The Food Processing By-Products Use Program, Jay E. Noel, Sean P. Hurley, Jessica Bylsma

Agribusiness

In the late 1970’s, Stanislaus County recognized that there existed a potential issue with the disposal of food processing by-products. The concern at the time was that the disposal of the by-products could be handled in a more efficient manner that could benefit all interested stakeholders. In 1978, the county took a proactive stance on the issue and brought together a group of producers, UC extension representatives, management from local food processors, and other interested stakeholders to discuss better ways of handling the by-products that came from processing agricultural products. As a result of these discussions, Stanislaus County developed the …

Science, Technology And Skills, Philip Pardey, Jennifer James, Julian Alston, Stanley Wood, Bonwoo Koo, Eran Binenbaum, Terrance Hurley, Paul Glewwe

Agribusiness

The invention of agriculture that occurred around 10,000 years ago heralded a shift from nomadic hunting and gathering to more managed forms of food, feed and fibre production. The domestication of crops initially involved the saving of seed from one season for planting in subsequent years. Later, farmers purposefully selected crop varieties and so in practice began matching and, by repeated selection over many years, adapting crop genetics to the environment in which the crop was grown. From its inception, enhancing G x E (i.e., gene by environment) interactions was an intrinsic, if not defining, feature of agriculture.

Invited Review: Role Of Livestock In Human Nutrition And Health For Poverty Reduction In Developing Countries, T. F. Randolph, E. Schelling, D. Grace, Charles F. Nicholson, J. L. Leroy, D. C. Cole, M. W. Demment, A. Omore, J. Zinsstag, M. Ruel

Agribusiness

Livestock keeping is critical for many of the poor in the developing world, often contributing to multiple livelihood objectives and offering pathways out of poverty. Livestock keeping also affects an indispensable asset of the poor, their human capital, through its impact on their own nutrition and health. This paper outlines the linkages between livestock keeping and the physical well-being of the poor, and examines a number of commonly held beliefs that misrepresent livestock development issues related to these linkages. These beliefs limit the scope of intervention programs to promote livestock and limit their potential contribution to poverty reduction. Recognition of …

A Benefit Transfer Approach To The Estimation Of Agro-Ecosystems Services Benefits: A Case Study Of Kern County, California, Eivis Quenani-Petrela, Jay E. Noel, Thomas Mastin

Agribusiness

Agro-ecosystem functions support not only the production of food and fiber but a variety of non-market goods and services that are socially valuable. Examples of those non-market goods and services include aesthetic experiences, wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration, and recreation to name a few. There is a growing awareness of the importance that provision of these non-market goods and services has to the long-run sustainability of agriculture in general and California agriculture in particular. This awareness has led to an increasing interest in the estimation of the economic value of agro-ecosystem functions non-market goods and services. This increased awareness can be …