Putting Meat on The Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America

A Report of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production

(A 2-1/2 year study released April 29, 200


"The current industrial farm animal production (IFAP) system often poses unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and the welfare of the animals themselves"

"Commissioners have determined that the negative effects of the IFAP system are too great and the scientific evidence is too strong to ignore. Significant changes must be implemented and must start now. And while some areas of animal agriculture have recognized these threats and have taken action, it is clear that the industry has a long way to go."


Executive Summary

*Read entire report at: http://www.ncifap.org/_images/PCIFAPFin.pdf


The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production was established through a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to recommend solutions to the problems created by concentrated animal feeding operations in four primary areas: public health, the environment, animal welfare, and rural communities. The Commission heard approximately 54 hours of testimony from stakeholders and experts, received technical reports from academics from institutions across the country, and visited operations in Iowa, California, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Colorado, to gather information on each of the subject areas. In addition, each of the Commissioners brought his or her own unique experiences and expertise to bear during Commission deliberations.

Over the past 50 years, the production of farm animals for food has shifted from the traditional, extensive, decentralized family farm system to a more concentrated system with fewer producers, in which large numbers of animals are confined in enormous operations. While we are raising approximately the same number of swine as we did in 1950, for example, we are doing so on significantly fewer, far larger farms, with dramatically fewer farm workers. This production model—sometimes called industrial farm animal production—is characterized by confining large numbers of animals of the same species in relatively small areas, generally in enclosed facilities that restrict movement. In many cases, the waste produced by the animals is eliminated through liquid systems and stored in open pit lagoons.

The ifap system, as it exists today, too often concentrates economic power
in the hands of the large companies that process and sell the animal products, instead of the individuals who raise the animals. In many cases, the “open marketâ€