Factory Farming + GMOs (Resource Use and Sustainability pt. 2)

Factory farming

The process of raising livestock in confinement at high stock density (many animals or birds kept in a small area)

Animals typically factory farmed

Chickens and cattle are especially farmed in this way

How a factory farm operates

It operates as a factory

Why animal rights activists oppose factory farming

They say most farm animals live in miserable conditions, subjected to intense and prolonged suffering to achieve high output

Living conditions of factory-farmed animals

Short, barren lives spent in cages, crates, overcrowded sheds and narrow stalls, with no guarantee of a humane death

Factory farming advantage: meeting demand

The population's demand for meat can be fulfilled at an acceptable price

Factory farming advantage: production speed

Meat is produced at a rapid speed, almost continuously, at a very inexpensive rate

Factory farming advantage: meat quantity

Production of more "meaty" animal flesh

Factory farming disadvantage: animal treatment

Animals generally face ill-treatment due to space constraints and a lack of health care facilities

Factory farming disadvantage: disease spread

Overcrowding of animals in sheds leads to the spread of diseases and infections, which can affect factory laborers and even the meat itself

Factory farming disadvantage: chemical use

Factory farmers usually use chemicals and antibiotics to induce maturity among farmed animals before slaughter

Factory farming disadvantage: animal welfare

Animals cannot live normal lifestyles and are treated cruelly

Factory farming disadvantage: antibiotic resistance

It involves the development of new antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, including salmonella, which can affect farm workers and consumers

Traditional genetic modification of crops

Modification through breeding that has taken place for many years, e.g. tomatoes bred from varieties that are firm and do not squash easily

Genetic engineering

A more recent, direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology, involving the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into a plant or animal

Result of genetic engineering

Certain properties are inserted into the host plant or animal

Genetic modification in SA's cotton farming

In South Africa, 90% of the 3,000 small-scale cotton farmers use genetically modified cotton resistant to the cotton bollworm pest, as it produces a naturally-occurring pesticide

Golden Rice

Rice modified with daffodil genes to have more beta-carotene, which the body converts to Vitamin A

Flavr Savr Tomatoes

Tomatoes modified by the removal of genes responsible for fruit softening, meaning they spoil more slowly

Bt Corn

Corn modified with a bacterial insecticide gene so it produces toxins within its cells, protecting it from pest species

Aqua Advantage Salmon

Salmon modified with growth hormone regulating genes to grow to market size in significantly less time

Glow in the Dark Animals

Animals modified with genes for fluorescent proteins so they glow in the dark; serves no practical purpose

GM advantage: resource use

Need less fertilizer and water

GM advantage: resistance

More resistant to insects, plant disease, frosts and drought

GM advantage: growth

Faster growth, and can grow in poorer soils

GM advantage: quality

Better flavor and higher yields

GM advantage: pesticide use

Less use of conventional pesticides

GM disadvantage: genetic/ecological effects

Irreversible and unpredictable genetic and ecological effects

GM disadvantage: food safety

Harmful poisons in food from possible plant cell mutations, and lower nutrition

GM disadvantage: pest/weed resistance

Increased evolution of pesticide-resistant insects and plant diseases, and creation of herbicide-resistant weeds

GM disadvantage: ecosystem and diversity

Harms beneficial insects and results in lower genetic diversity

GM disadvantage: seed cost

Fresh seeds have to be bought annually and they are expensive