The first large-scale animal factories appeared in the early 1970s,1 and while these initial confined animal feeding operations CAFOs were for egg laying hens, pork and beef producers soon followed suit. Today, most meat sold in the US beef, pork, chicken, turkey, etc. is raised in a CAFO. It’s a corporate-controlled system characterized by large-scale, centralized, low profit-margin production, processing, and distribution systems, built around efficiency — producing more for less. By 1980, chicken, pig, beef, and dairy CAFOs were firmly established, and over the following decade, processed fast food became the norm, courtesy of abundant inexpensive meats. We are
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