Factory Farming Response Paper

Factory Farming Response Paper
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Factory Farming Response Paper
The global population constantly grows, putting more pressure on scarce resources, including food security sustainability. Factory farming emerges as a critical production approach to meet the growing global demand for food resources, anchored on fewer resources. Factory farming implies industrial farming practices of rearing high-density animals within inhumane confined living areas in the current capitalist society. Within the context of global population growth and food security needs, factory farming is necessary because it is executed to maximize the benefits by reducing costs while raising efficiencies. This paper argues that while factory farming creates economies of scale that allow for massive food production, there are better ways to produce enough food. The fundamental argument is that Immanuel Kant’s deontology of moral obligations would view factory farming as not enhancing food security amid constant population growth. Still, instead, it is dangerous, threatens human well-being and health, and undermines animals’ welfare.
It sounds critical to argue that factory farming is necessary based on increased meat production, but it undermines Kant’s ethical framework. Factory farming aggregates production to create economies of scale that facilitate massive production of meat products at a relatively low cost in comparison to the more conventional livestock rearing activities. Nevertheless, assuming that such an argument is actual, the economies of scale have residual implications. The objective of “affordable meat” cannot and must never be allowed to adversely affect the well-being and health of animals, humans, the environment, as well as the economy (Richards & Richards, 2011). According to Kant’s deontology notion – a duty-based ethical framework – it is crucial that the factory farmers be guided by shared moral obligations rather than self-serving interests (Kropka, 2021). In this vein, people should execute their duty, thus making it ethical for factory farmers and related companies to emphasize profits to meet shareholders’ needs. Although the objective of the corporations is profit-maximization rather than bringing harm to humans, animals, the environment, and the economy, their influence and power in society make it challenging for farmers to raise animals morally and the ultimate customer to eat ethically. Therefore, according to Kant’s ethics of duty, factory farming and its related enterprise are primarily accountable to ethical practices (Kranak, 2019).
According to Kant’s deontology, factory farmers have to provide proper care to animals as well as healthy meat to the ultimate consumer. Pollution from factory farms is a critical problem, contaminating the water, land, and air. Factory farms also adversely impact human health (The Humane League, 2020). Environmental pollution disproportionately affects lower-income and minority communities living near the factories (Compassion in World Farming, n.d.). The issues, coupled with animal sufferings and meat contaminated with bacteria and antibiotics, r...