Factory farming

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Intensive animal husbandry enables many animals to be kept for the production of products for the mass market . Here pigs in the crate , on slatted floors

Factory farming refers to the intensive farming of a large number of animals. While factory farming was considered modern in the 1960s and was perceived positively, the term now stands for a variety of problems in modern animal husbandry systems.

Origin and development of the term

A high number of animals means a high volume of liquid manure , which is mostly spread on meadows and fields and sometimes leads to " liquid manure tourism ". Nitrate in the groundwater thus became a side effect of factory farming.

The mass production of industrial goods is about streamlining processes, which leads to low unit costs . This creates the basis for potentially producing a large number of the same goods at low prices for the mass market .

Since the end of the 1960s, this rationalization also took place in agricultural animal production , in that the mechanisms of industrial production were also transferred to agricultural production (cf. with the history of agriculture ). In agricultural science, veterinary medicine and other branches of science, this development was reflected under the term “factory farming”. The term became more widespread in Germany after the ordinance on protection against the endangerment of cattle epidemics in the keeping of pig herds with the abbreviation Massentierhaltungverordnung was issued in 1975 , which at that time applied to herds of 1,250 pigs or more.

In the 1960s, this form of livestock farming was welcomed as “modern factory farming”, as increasing productivity and profitability served food security and made food of animal origin affordable. These arguments are now taking a back seat. Animal products are cheap and a large part of the products produced is exported, for example in Germany. Because of a large number of accompanying phenomena of factory farming, the term has meanwhile mostly had negative connotations. Interviewed consumers associated “cruelty and injustice” with the term factory farming. They also mentioned “tormenting / tormenting” especially in poultry farming, where they named cage farming, which has been banned in the EU since 2012, as an example.

According to an expert report by the Scientific Advisory Board for Agricultural Policy, which advises the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture , from 2015 the terms “factory farming” and “industrial animal husbandry” are “scientifically rather unusual”. In science, "the opposing pair of intensive versus extensive animal husbandry is used more often". As the quintessence of their report, the scientists on the advisory board called for a radical turn in animal husbandry in Germany, which in its current form is not sustainable. More animal protection is urgently needed from a scientific point of view as well as for reasons of social acceptance.

In the context of factory farming, the public debate often focuses on farm and herd sizes. In Germany, 26.4 million pigs and 11.5 million cattle were kept in 2018. When “mass” refers to the number of animals, this is primarily directly related to the amount of resources consumed or by-products produced (such as manure) or emissions.

In the Netherlands, halving the number of animals due to excessive emissions has been discussed since autumn 2019. Among other things, almost 4 million cattle and around 12 million pigs are kept in the Netherlands.

There is also factory farming in aquaculture (fish farming).

Definitions

Specialist dictionaries

The Duden defines factory farming as mechanized animal husbandry in large farms to obtain as many animal products as possible .

The lexicon of biology defines factory farming as a synonym for intensive farming or intensive animal husbandry . Factory farming is "in today's agricultural language [...] a seldom used term for keeping a large number of farm animals (e.g. pigs, chickens [...], cattle) of the same type in a limited space in favor of the rational production of e.g. B. Meat, eggs (hen's eggs), milk ”.

In the Römpp Lexikon Chemie , factory farming is described as a form of intensive agriculture with a large population of one species. The aim is to generate a satisfactory return on investment with a high level of technical aids .

In the Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon , Oliver Bendel defines mass animal husbandry, also called intensive animal husbandry or intensive animal husbandry, as "keeping animals on a large scale under cramped, stressful and mostly unsuitable circumstances". This applies to all forms of non-extensive animal husbandry. The aim is industrial meat, leather and fur production. With a corresponding farm size, there may also be factory farming in fish farming.

The lexicon of geography defines factory farming as an "extreme form of (capital) intensive livestock farming that is exclusively geared towards maximizing profit in farms with little or no forage-growing areas". When defining factory farming, it focuses on the decoupling of animal husbandry and fodder cultivation in an agricultural operation and names the following individual characteristics of factory farming: a) Concentration of many individual animals in a small space; b) frequent generation changes; c) lowest possible labor input; d) Use of mechanical equipment for feeding, supply and disposal and e) Feeding of high-quality bought-in feed with maximum possible utilization.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines intensive animal husbandry to factory farming "as systems in which less than 10% of the dry feed comes from the own farm and in which the stocking density exceeds ten livestock units per hectare of farmland".

Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Austria

In Austria the defined order of the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry on the limitation of waste water emissions from livestock farming ( the force of law from 1998) the term in the context of this Regulation "agricultural form of concentrated husbandry livestock." ( 349/1997 BGBl. II Nr. )

(Political) positions

The Oldenburger Münsterland has the greatest density of poultry, pig and cattle breeding farms.

Farmers association

The president of the farmers' association Joachim Rukwied is of the opinion that there is no factory farming in Germany. He advocates spreading the term intensive animal husbandry.

Environmental protection organizations

The BUND calls for “Get out of factory farming!” And blames the dominant form of husbandry for a number of problems: Antibiotics are used en masse in animal stalls, animals are bred for high performance and rarely kept in a species-appropriate manner. Soy is "a key factor for the mass production of meat and dairy products" and imports are partly responsible for the disappearance of the rainforest.

Animal welfare organizations

Animal welfare organizations include the fate of animals in the definition. For example, the Provieh association states that industrial factory farming, also known as intensive animal husbandry, occurs when the animals are viewed by the keeper as pure production factors, rather than as living beings with species-specific needs and behaviors.

Animal ethics

The animal ethics takes the entire chain of action of animal breeding and animal breeding goals on animal husbandry in agricultural production to animal transport and slaughter into account and discussed in the context factory farming and factory farming. Ursula Wolf describes factory farming as one of the “achievements of the modern technical world, through which countless animals suffer torments.” From a bioethical point of view, factory farming in its current form cannot be justified, “since humanity could also feed on fewer animal products”. Wolf also uses the term "industrial animal husbandry" for the type of husbandry. According to the philosopher Friederike Schmitz, there are hardly any positions in academic animal ethics that defend modern intensive animal husbandry.

Peter Kunzmann takes the point of view that factory farming is used as a term with a critical and pejorative undertone to characterize the type of livestock farming common in industrialized and emerging countries .

Parties in Germany

Alliance 90 / The Greens want to enforce a complete ban on industrial factory farming by 2036. Robert Habeck said at an election campaign event in 2016 that the term “factory farming” was not clearly defined and that it did not describe the actual problem of inadequate animal welfare. You could "hold shit even ten cows". In an interview with Deutschlandfunk, Habeck said that he deliberately tried to avoid the term, "because the term mass is undefined and causes a lot of bad blood, defamation and lack of objectivity in the agricultural complex in which we move." He prefers the term “industrial animal husbandry”.

The CDU and CSU viewed the term critically in 2012 and, in a position paper, turned against "fighting terms such as factory farming" which only served to discredit modern agriculture in public. " CDU member of the Bundestag Gitta Connemann describes "factory farming" in 2017 as a "purely ideological term".

The small parties V-Party³ and party Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz use the term "industrial factory farming" in their programs.

Civil Society Initiatives

Demonstration: We're sick of it!

Protester with sign: Factory farming? I do not like the taste!

Every year to accompany the International Green Week Berlin , the We are fed up with it! - Demonstration against factory farming.

Appeal against factory farming

In an appeal against factory farming initiated by 300 scientists in 2011, the federal, state and EU governments were called upon to "end cruelty to animals and promote the switch to socio-ecological agriculture". 9500 people have signed the appeal. The university professors followed a similar initiative from the Netherlands in which 100 scientists had participated.

Veterinary associations

Many veterinary offices in Bavarian districts no longer approved transports to third countries in 2019. According to the specialist magazine Official Veterinary Service and Food Control (ATD), in non-EU countries “practices are very often the order of the day [...] that cause the animals considerable and prolonged or repetitive pain and suffering (bondage, grip in the eyes etc.) ". In February 2019, veterinary associations called on Bavarian members of the European Parliament to no longer allow animal transports to third countries. The transports are "an elementary part of the factory farming system". Maria Heubuch from the Greens demanded: "The orientation of the EU agricultural policy on industrial factory farming with all its negative effects must come to an end." After a report by the EU Agriculture Committee found serious violations in the trade in cattle, pigs, sheep and other animals , demanded the EU Parliament in February 2019 to improve the transport conditions for animals, tighten controls, stop transports to third countries and limit them to a maximum of eight hours.

Referendum in Brandenburg

Animal husbandry in the new federal states of East Germany is structurally characterized by a dominance of large farms, which is partly due to the organization of agriculture in the former GDR (with agricultural production cooperatives animal production). Since German reunification, numerous new large companies have been added, often to the annoyance of the local population. According to the State Office for Environmental Protection, there are around 630 breeding and fattening farms in the state of Brandenburg . A “popular initiative against factory farming” in 2015 called for “stopping the constant expansion of factory farming systems in Brandenburg”. The referendum reached the required number of signatures, at the meeting on April 19, 2016, the Brandenburg state parliament accepted it with slightly different wording (one of the demands, the right to file a lawsuit for animal welfare associations, was rejected). With a satirical campaign in 2018, animal protection and environmental activists accused the government of failing to implement the successful referendum. Instead, the expansion of "industrial animal husbandry" would be promoted.

Popular initiatives in Switzerland

A representative survey by the market research institute Gfs-Zurich on behalf of the animal rights organization Tier im Fokus 2018 showed that 76 percent of those surveyed do not want factory farming in Switzerland. The Federal People's Initiative "No factory farming in Switzerland (factory farming initiative)" , supported by 15 organizations, calls for Article 80 of the Federal Constitution, in which animal protection is anchored, to be supplemented by a new Article 80a by including a. should mean: "Animal dignity includes the claim not to live in factory farming." The "Drinking Water Initiative" also wants to restrict factory farming and demands, among other things. a. that only those farms are supported with direct payments or subsidies that manage their animal husbandry without the use of prophylactic antibiotics and only keep as many animals as they can feed without importing feed.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon, definition of mass production
  2. a b Reports on Agriculture, Landswirtschaftsverlag, 1968 [1] , quote: "In principle, modern factory farming or intensive farming is not to be equated with" cruelty to animals ". Not only to increase productivity and profitability of animal husbandry, but also more and more in the future An intensification of animal husbandry is inevitable to cover the needs of life and food security. The herd sizes will exceed the national average in animal husbandry and [...]
  3. ^ Karl Fritzsche : Factory farming and veterinary medicine . Zentralblatt für Veterinärmedizin, Series B, No. 17, 1970, pp. 12-22. doi: 10.1111 / j.1439-0450.1970.tb01505.x
  4. Ways to socially acceptable livestock husbandry, p. 110.
  5. ^ A b Maike Kayser, Katharina Schlieker, Achim Spiller, Göttingen: The perception of the term “factory farming ” from the point of view of society in reports on agriculture Journal for Agricultural Policy and Agriculture ; published by the Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Kohlhammer Verlag, Volume 90 (3), December 2012, p. 416
  6. Die Zeit, fattening for export , January 13th, 2016, quote: " Factory farming is still increasing rapidly - for export."
  7. a b c d Scientific Advisory Board for Agricultural Policy at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture: Paths to socially acceptable livestock husbandry , p. 66 (pdf for download on the Internet of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food, March 15, 2015)
  8. ^ Jan Grossarth: Reviewers call for a radical change in animal husbandry , FAZ, March 25, 2015
  9. Federal Statistical Office, [2]
  10. WDR, fear manure tourism in Sauerland
  11. taz, Der Zorn der Bauern , October 17, 2019
  12. ↑ Factory farming
  13. Lexicon of Biology: Massentierhaltung , at: Spektrum.de, 1999
  14. Entry on factory farming. In: Römpp Online . Georg Thieme Verlag, accessed on June 4, 2020.
  15. Entry factory farming in the Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon
  16. ↑ Factory farming . In: Lexicon of Geography. , accessed from Spektrum.de on February 27, 2019.
  17. Federal Law Gazette II No. 349/1997
  18. a b Maja Beckers and Charlotte Dietz What you should know about factory farming in Süddeutsche Zeitung, March 3, 2914
  19. topagrar.com, BUND describes the consequences of massive soy imports , January 16, 2019
  20. BUND, [3]
  21. ProVieh: What is industrial factory farming?
  22. ^ Johann S. Ach: Nutztierhaltung , in: Johann S. Ach, Dagmar Borchers (Ed.): Handbuch Tierethik , Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-476-02582-1 , p. 259
  23. Ursula Wolf: Das Tier in der Moral , Vittorio Klostermann, 2004, ISBN 978-3-465-03314-1 , p. 9/10.
  24. Jens Tuider, Ursula Wolf: Animal Ethical Positions , in: Dossier Bioethics, Federal Center for Political Education, January 14, 2014
  25. Ursula Wolf: Ethics of the human-animal relationship , Verlag Vittorio Klostermann , Frankfurt a. M. 2012, ISBN 978-3-465-04161-0 , p. 129
  26. Friederike Schmitz: Viewpoint: Justice for animals - social animal liberation. In: Federal Agency for Civic Education, May 14, 2018
  27. ^ Peter Kunzmann: Factory farming in Rolf Gröschner (Ed.): Dictionary of dignity, UTB (Stuttgart) 2013, ISBN 978-3-8252-8517-3 , p. 370.
  28. Peter Kunzmann: Factory farming in Rolf Gröschner (Ed.): Dictionary of dignity, UTB (Stuttgart) 2013, ISBN 978-3-8252-8517-3 , p. 371.
  29. We ensure healthy food without poison and animal cruelty. In: Gruene.de (as of: 2019)
  30. Prohibition required within the next 20 years. Greens want to completely abolish factory farming. In: Tagesschau.de, June 19, 2016
  31. Greens want to completely ban factory farming. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 19, 2016
  32. Christoph Herwartz: When two Greens argue , Zeit online , October 23, 2016, accessed on March 13, 2018.
  33. "What the farmers' association says is wrong. Robert Habeck in conversation with Jule Reimer". In: deutschlandfunk.de. August 26, 2016, accessed June 16, 2019 .
  34. CDU / CSU wants to ban terms such as " factory farming ". In: topagrar.com. Retrieved on June 16, 2019 .
  35. ^ "Factory farming ideological concept - 200 listeners in discussion with Bundestag applicants in Papenburg". In: noz.de. Retrieved June 16, 2019 .
  36. V-Party³: party program , as of 2018 p. 5.ff and p. 10.ff, accessed on March 13, 2018.
  37. ^ Human Environment and Animal Welfare Party: Basic program , as of December 2017, accessed on March 13, 2018.
  38. Rheinische Post, "We're fed up" - tens of thousands protest against factory farming
  39. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung, Scientists Appeal Against Factory Farming , January 12, 2011
  40. Hamburger Abendblatt, Masses Against Factory Farming , January 31, 2011
  41. Many veterinary offices stop animal transports to third countries , in: BR23, February 1, 2019
  42. agrarheute, veterinarians want to stop cattle transports to third countries , February 11, 2019
  43. Silvia Liebrich: The business with suffering living beings is booming , Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 13, 2019
  44. Silvia Liebrich: EU Parliament demands stricter rules for animal transport , Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 14, 2019
  45. Frank Rehmet: Documentation - Germany , in: Yearbook for Direct Democracy 2017 . Edited by Nadja Braun Binder, Lars P. Feld, Peter M. Huber, Klaus Poier, Fabian Wittreck, Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden 2018, ISBN 978-3-8487-5590-5 , p. 111/112
  46. Referendum in full (PDF)
  47. Decision of the Landtag Brandenburg, printed matter 6/3855-B (PDF)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.parlamentsdokumentation.brandenburg.de
  48. Andreas Albert: "Mama, it stinks - we are at home" , in: Spiegel Online, April 25, 2018
  49. 76 percent of Swiss are against factory farming, Bauernzeitung, December 5, 2018
  50. Suzann-Viola Renninger: The foot in the door. The Swiss right of initiative for global issues , in: Yearbook for Direct Democracy 2017 . Edited by Nadja Braun Binder, Lars P. Feld, Peter M. Huber, Klaus Poier, Fabian Wittreck, Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden 2018, ISBN 978-3-8487-5590-5 , p. 26