Huge meat companies have steadily driven down the prices farmers receive for the livestock they raise, forcing farms to “get big or get out.” Small farms have been replaced by factory farms that pollute nearby air and water, undermine rural economies, and reduce the quality of life for neighbors.
Kansas Facts
- The average Kansas hog factory farm has 10,000 pigs.
- The average Kansas factory-farm dairy has nearly 3,600 cows.
- There are only twice as many people as factory farmed hogs in Kansas.
- Kansas nearly has more beef cattle on industrial feedlots (2.6 million) than people (2.8 million).
- The nearly 225,000 beef cattle on industrial feedlots in Scott County, Kansas produce as much untreated manure as the sewage from the New York City and Seattle metro areas combined.
- The 2.5 million beef cattle, 1.7 million hogs, 79,000 dairy cows, and 614,000 egg-laying hens on factory farms in Kansas produce as much untreated manure as 307 million people — about the same as the entire U.S. population.