A Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO), as defined by the EPA, is an agricultural operation that houses the equivalent of 700 dairy cattle, 2,500 swine, or up to 125,000 chickens. Living in Iowa, most of us are very aware of the hog confinement issue, but in this blog, we’ll focus in on the chicken confinement houses, where most of our country’s chicken, turkey, and eggs come from.
What do you think of when you picture a farmer? Is it a person wearing overalls, covered in dirt, working the land? Or is it the shape of a human covered head to toe in PPE gear with a respirator? The latter is the reality for many working in industrial farming operations, where exposure to chemicals and pollutants necessitates such protection. Can you imagine 100,000 chickens in one room? Chicken CAFO are so tightly packed with birds that huge fans are necessary to blow out ammonia-laden air just so the birds (and workers) can breathe. Additionally, these operations typically have mounds of excrement, bedding, feathers, and even dead birds—stored uncovered for weeks at a time. Iowa’s poor water quality is rightly attributed to the excess in pig waste, but waste from these chicken hellscapes can also contribute.
As Jonathan Safran Foer, author of We Are the Weather, has said, “99.9% of the animals that we eat in America come from factory farms, whose mission is to remove farmers, and to remove nature, from farming.” By choosing pasture-raised poultry, and other animals raised on the land, you’re making a stand against this industrial farming system that prioritizes profit over the well-being of animals and the environment.
It’s also important to recognize the misconceptions around “organic” chicken in grocery stores. Despite legal requirements for organic chickens to have outdoor access, many are still raised in CAFOs without true access to the outdoors. This is a commonly overlooked issue, as highlighted by the Real Organic Project.
Michael Pollan, in a public conversation with Kathleen Merrigan, aptly described the systemic problem: “We are addicted to cheap food. And the pressures to make food as cheap as possible are just fierce in this country. And that is the reason that we exploit farmworkers and that is the reason that meat animals are treated the way they are treated, and down the line….Food is not ‘cheap.’ It’s dishonestly priced because it assumes undocumented workers being exploited, and it assumes animal abuse.”
By purchasing from small, pasture-based farms like ours, you’re supporting a system that values transparency, ethical treatment of animals, and environmental stewardship. Every chicken you buy from us is a vote for a type of agriculture that puts animals back on the land, allowing them to roam freely and live in conditions that promote their well-being.
Thank you for choosing to make a difference with your purchases. Voting with your dollar helps support farmers who are dedicated to providing high-quality, ethically raised poultry and meat while promoting sustainable agricultural practices. There are hundreds of people working in our state alone to increase access to and convenience of sourcing local and sustainable foods, but it all starts with you and that choice that you make the next time you’re standing in the meat section at your grocery store.
Thank you for being here and making thoughtful choices that support a better food system.
