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factory farming

 
Sci-Tech Dictionary: factory farming
(′fak·trē ′fär·miŋ)

(agriculture) Raising livestock indoors under conditions of extremely restricted mobility.


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Wordsmith Words: factory farming
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(FAK-tuh-ree FAHR-ming)

noun
An industrialized system of producing meat, eggs, and milk in large-scale facilities where the animal is treated as a machine.

Etymology
From the idea of operating a large-scale farm as an efficient factory

Some of the characteristics of a factory farm include intensive crowding of animals, trimming of birds' beaks, cutting pigs' tails, force-feeding of ducks, injecting artificial growth hormones, restricting mobility, etc.

Usage
"'When you look at environmental problems in the U.S.,' says [geophysicist Gidon] Eshel, 'nearly all of them have their source in food production and in particular meat production. And factory farming is 'optimal' only as long as degrading waterways is free." — Mark Bittman; The Meat of the Matter; The Dallas Morning News; Feb 10, 2008.


Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: factory farming
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System of modern animal farming designed to yield the most meat, milk, and eggs in the least amount of time and space possible. The term, descriptive of standard farming practice in the U.S., is frequently used by animal-rights activists, who maintain that animal-protection measures routinely ignore farm animals. Animals are often fed growth hormones, sprayed with pesticides, and fed antibiotics to mitigate the problems of infestation and disease that are exacerbated by crowded living conditions. Chickens spend their lives crowded into small cages, often so tightly that they cannot turn around; the cages are stacked in high batteries, and the length of "day" and "night" are artificially controlled to maximize egg laying. Veal calves are virtually immobilized in narrow stalls for their entire lives. These and numerous other practices have long been decried by critics.

For more information on factory farming, visit Britannica.com.

Geography Dictionary: factory farming
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A system of livestock farming in which animals are kept indoors throughout the greater part of their lives in conditions of very restricted mobility. Pigs, laying hens, broiler chickens, and veal calves are the animals most often kept under these conditions. Factory farming leads to a standardized product raised en masse. See agribusiness.

 
 

 

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Sci-Tech Dictionary. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. Copyright © 2003, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1978, 1976, 1974 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wordsmith Words. © 2009 Wordsmith.org. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Geography Dictionary. A Dictionary of Geography. Copyright © Susan Mayhew 1992, 1997, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more