Beyond Factory Farming

Brochures

Read about the Beyond Factory Farming Coalition, issues associated with industrial livestock operations, and solutions to ensure safe and healthy food for Canadians.

• Is Your Meat Fit to Eat?

What do vegans, vegetarians and conscientious meat eaters have in common? More than you might expect! All think, eat and act based on concern about how personal food choices affect our health and environment.

• Think - Eat- Act

It is clear that factory farming of hogs is causing serious water pollution problems, due to excessive manure spreading that causes nutrients to leach out or run off from soils. Instead of changing the production system, some scientists and industry proponents are working on changing the pig itself. They have used recombinant DNA technology to alter how the pig's digestive system works. Read more about it in the backgrounder BFF produced in cooperation with the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network:

• Enviropig™: Genetically Engineering Pigs to Support Industrial Agriculture

Fact Sheets

Beyond Factory Farming Fact sheets are designed to provide general information on key topics. The fact sheets can be photo-copied double-sided on letter size paper. There is space on page two to add contact information for your local group.

• Antibiotic Resistance Factories
  Antibiotics are one of the most powerful tools in modern medicine. However if they are used irresponsibly, the pathogens they kill will evolve resistance, making the drugs useless. Factory farm conditions are ideal for creating antibiotic resistant bacteria. This is a serious public health matter that affects all Canadians.

• Avian Flu
  Control Bird Flu by Controlling Intensive Poultry Operations Prevention of a world-wide flu pandemic that could kill millions is certainly a worthy cause. The question is — will outlawing outdoor poultry production save us from an AI pandemic? Or will it actually increase the risk of the disease?

• Intensive Livestock Operations and Water
  A fact sheet on the polluting effects of factory farms on surface and ground water – the source of drinking water for most Canadians.

• Climate Change
  Did you know that livestock account for nearly 20 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions? Find out how industrial livestock operations are responsible for much of the recent rise in greenhouse gas emissions in our climate change fact sheet.

• Animals Are Integral to Sustainable Agriculture
  While industrial livestock operations are responsible for contributing to environmental degradation including climate change, mixed farms by contrast demonstrate the important role livestock play in maintaining a healthy farm ecosystem.

• Swine Flu - Evolution of a pandemic: from factory farm to hospital ward
  For years scientists have warned that factory hog farming increases the risk of a new pandemic influenza. Now it has happened. Our fact sheet tells how, and provides recommendations for preventing future outbreaks.

• Irradiation - Zapping the wrong end of the food system Irradiation is being touted in some circles as a possible food safety fix. Our fact sheet outlines the process and explains why irradiation is a faulty means of preventing outbreaks of food-borne illness.