The Hidden Cost of Cheap Meat: Unveiling the Human, Animal, and Environmental Toll of Factory Farming
June 7, 2025 — Behind every low-priced cut of meat lies a high cost paid by animals, the planet, and public health. The Humane Foundation is calling for urgent awareness and action on the far-reaching impacts of factory farming, a system that prioritizes efficiency over ethics, profit over compassion.
Factory farming, or intensive animal agriculture, is the predominant method of meat, egg, and dairy production worldwide. While this system may seem economically efficient, its true price is measured in immense animal suffering, environmental degradation, and increasing human health risks.
Animals as Commodities: The Ethics Crisis
In factory farms, animals like chickens, pigs, cows, and fish are treated not as sentient beings but as production units. Chickens often spend their lives in overcrowded sheds or battery cages link, unable to express natural behaviors. Pigs are confined to narrow gestation crates link that prevent them from even turning around. Dairy cows face repeated forced pregnancies and early calf separations link.
Scientific evidence confirms what many already know intuitively: animals feel pain, fear, and joy. They suffer profoundly in factory farm environments, as highlighted in the Foundation’s animal sentience resource link.
Environmental Devastation at Scale
Factory farms are also major contributors to environmental decline. The livestock sector is responsible for a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions link, deforestation link, and water pollution due to runoff from animal waste and chemicals. These operations also deplete natural resources and contribute to biodiversity loss link, pushing ecosystems to the brink.
A Growing Threat to Public Health
The impacts of factory farming extend directly to human communities. Overuse of antibiotics in livestock fuels the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a growing global health crisis. Workers in slaughterhouses and industrial farms are exposed to dangerous conditions, and surrounding communities often face polluted air and contaminated water..
In addition, the global food system shaped by factory farming threatens food security by diverting vast amounts of crops to feed animals rather than people link.
A Better Way Forward
The Humane Foundation believes change begins with informed choices. The transition toward a plant-based, cruelty-free food system is not only kinder to animals but also healthier for people and more sustainable for the Earth. Practical tools such as the Vegan Meal Planning and Recipes guide and insights from the Vegan Food Revolution are available for those ready to take the first steps.
The time to act is now. The cost of inaction is simply too great.