Abstract

This article presents the system of industrial food animal production in the USA. There is a trend in animal agriculture to conduct fewer financial operations and to have more animals raised on each farm and fewer corporations controlling most aspects of the supply chain – from breeding through feed production to slaughter and the marketing of meat, milk and eggs. Much of the burden of producing animal products in the industrialized system is externalized in public health and natural environment, and it also generates considerable social costs. The model, however, has been followed in many other countries and continues to be replicated around the world. Is there an alternative?