Industry

Perspective

Meat Producers Have a New Animal to Farm

The edible insect market is projected to hit $1.2 billion by 2023. But advocates are questioning the motives behind this surprising new trend.

Food•8 min read

Perspective

How ‘Farm-to-Table’ Was Co-Opted by Big Meat and Dairy

The farm-to-table movement promised better, more sustainable food. But the idea has been co-opted by meat and dairy producers, who exploit it for their own financial gain.

Food•5 min read

Reported

Campaigners and Duck Farmers at Odds Over Future of Industry

“We are calling upon the [UK] government to ban this cruel industry,” said one campaigner. “There is no place in Britain or anywhere else for it.”

Food•5 min read

Reported

In Vietnam, the Call for Factory Farm Divestment Grows Louder

The International Finance Corporation recently invested $26 million into Vietnam's pig farming industry, spurring new calls for divestment.

Food•7 min read

Explainer

What You Should Know About the World’s Top Dairy Companies

In the U.S., dairy farms generate $628 billion annually. And while they add to the GDP of many countries, they also cause harm that cannot be undone.

Food•8 min read

Explainer

What Happens to Dairy Cows When They Get Old?

In the dairy industry, a cow’s life is segmented into predictable, routine steps to help farms make the most profit. We took a closer look at what happens next.

Food•8 min read

Reported

Experts Say Dairy Farming Is ‘Hardly Natural’. The Industry Doesn’t Agree.

The dairy industry will say almost anything, and we mean anything, to protect its image. Experts say this time it has gone too far.

Food•5 min read

Explainer

The State of Mink Farming: What Changed During the Pandemic

Advocates have worked for decades to educate the public about the danger of mink farms. During the pandemic, their work became hyper-relevant.

Food•9 min read

Reported

The American Farm Bureau Federation Claims It’s the ‘Voice of Agriculture.’ These Groups Beg to Differ.

With millions of members, the American Farm Bureau Federation says it represents "divergent opinions." But the farmers outside its circle believe it leans "heavily towards corporate interests."

Food•13 min read

Explainer

What Happens Behind Closed Doors in the Egg Industry

The egg industry is a dark, complicated place. We took a closer look at the mistreatment of birds on egg farms and what you can do to help.

Food•7 min read

Reported

In Zimbabwe, Poultry Farmers Face a New Foe: Antibiotic Resistance

The rapid increase of antibiotic resistance is threatening the future of poultry farming in Zimbabwe. Experts say education is the root of the problem.

Food•4 min read

Reported

Rise of Antibiotic Resistance Threatens Farmers’ Way of Life

Farmers say they’re not to blame for the abuse of medically important drugs in animal agriculture. The problem, as they see it, is much more complicated.

Food•6 min read

Explainer

Is This the Beginning of the End for Foie Gras?

Foie gras directly translates to “fat liver,” which is exactly what it is. Learn more about the birds who suffer so that people can eat this so-called delicacy.

Food•7 min read

Explainer

Antibiotic Resistance and Animal Farming: What You Need to Know

Experts believe that drug-resistant bacteria, many of which are born on factory farms, could be the cause of the next pandemic. We took a closer look.

Food•2 min read

Explainer

The Truth About Duck Farming: What Happens Behind Closed Doors

On large-scale duck farms, thousands of ducks are crammed together with no access to water. The rest of their lives is increasingly unnatural.

Food•11 min read

Reported

Inside the Dramatic Rise of Factory Farming in Africa

While factory farming is most prevalent in the Global North, it is gaining political support in Africa, and animals are paying the price.

Food•6 min read

Explainer

How Power and Influence Corrupts Big Food Companies

Big Food is characterized by the domination of major food markets by a few large companies. In the food industry, the lack of competition leads to a host of problems.

Food•12 min read

Explainer

What Life Is Like for America’s 10 Million Dairy Cows

Dairy cows are kind, emotional, and social creatures. However, the dairy industry sees them as nothing more than sources of milk.

Food•12 min read

Reported

How ‘Landless’ Pig Farms Break Animal Welfare Rules and Get Away With It

The rise of intensive animal agriculture in the EU has created a new phenomenon: the landless farm. Exempt from key welfare protections, these farms pose a serious threat to farmed…

Food•5 min read

Reported

Emails Show Meat CEOs Lobbied Federal Officials During Pandemic

The leaders of pork company Smithfield Foods and chicken producer Perdue Farms were in regular contact with government officials as the coronavirus began sweeping through their plants.

Food•7 min read

Reported

The Firms Keeping Big Ag in Business

Between 2015 and 2020, financial institutions gave over $478 billion to meat and dairy corporations around the world, largely without scrutiny.

Food•5 min read

Perspective

A Shortage of Butchers Is the Least of the Pork Industry’s Problems

A shortage of butchers in the UK has left slaughterhouses operating at decreased capacity, forcing many farmers to kill their pigs themselves.

Food•5 min read

Investigation

Major Animal Pharma Industry Group Forced to Remove UN Logo from ‘Misleading’ Briefing on Livestock Climate Impact

United Nations distances itself from “distortive” and “biased” animal pharma livestock briefing that used UN sustainable food summit logo.

Food•10 min read

Explainer

What’s Really in a Chicken Nugget?

Chicken nuggets are a staple of fast food chains and grocery store freezers, but there's more to the simple nuggets than meets the eye.

Food•10 min read

Explainer

Pig Farmers Know Best: Even Cheap Meat Comes With a Price

Over the past 50 years, mega-corporations have placed a firm hold on the pork industry, leaving many pig farmers in financial ruin.

Food•1 min read

Explainer

Why Egg Farming Practices Spread Avian Flu

And will continue to do so.

Food•17 min read

Reported

Farmers Caught in the Gears of Agricultural Industry

Farming was a sustainable way of life until corporate agriculture came knocking. Now, farmers are caught in the gears of an industry that prioritizes cheap crops and labor above all…

Food•18 min read

Explainer

Dairy Farmers Find Themselves at the Center of a Troubled Industry

Dairy farmers work long hours in dangerous conditions, while animals are constantly impregnated and then separated from their young.

Food•10 min read

Reported

What Happens When Big Ag Comes to Town

Big Ag didn't just put small farmers out of business. They changed a way of life in rural America and made it harder to fight climate change.

Food•20 min read

Reported

Expansion of Cattle Farms Leads to Rise of Armed Conflict in Colombia

A special investigation into the expansion of cattle farming in Colombia has found a connection between illegal deforestation and the rise of armed conflict in the region.

Food•5 min read

Explainer

Inside the Dark World of Rabbit Farming

Rabbit is often celebrated as the "most sustainable" meat, but it emits more carbon per kilogram than both chicken and pork and causes millions of animals to suffer.

Food•6 min read

Explainer

U.S. Department of Agriculture: Who Does the USDA Really Serve?

Since its inception in 1861, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's primary function was to serve the interests of farmers, often at the expense of public health and the environment.

Food•9 min read

Perspective

Is Ethically Produced Dairy Even Possible?

At the UK's only slaughter-free dairy farm, calves are allowed to be with their mothers, and spent cows roam around in peace. Sound too good to be true? We took…

Food•5 min read

Reported

Farmers Face Frostbitten Cows, Dead Calves, and Harsh Financial Consequences

Over the last few weeks, severe winter storms have pelted the U.S. agriculture industry with problems, killing hundreds of thousands of animals.

Food•4 min read

Reported

Factory Farming Is on the Rise, but Communities Are Fighting Back

In the absence of political leadership, grassroots organizations and NGOs are taking on factory farms themselves, building on growing public support for less intensive animal agriculture.

Food•8 min read

Perspective

“I Remember Their Eyelashes”: Why I Chose to Stop Consuming Dairy

The ditch dairy argument can be a tough pill to swallow. This is not meant to shame anyone, simply to share my story of why I chose to stop consuming…

Food•9 min read

Reported

The Rise of an Empire: How China Achieved Global Fishing Dominance

With as many as 800,000 boats in the water, some as far afield as Argentina, China is unmatched in the size and reach of its fishing vessels. Ian Urbina reports…

Food•13 min read

Explainer

McDonald’s Animal Cruelty: Secrets of the Fast Food Industry

McDonald's animal cruelty record is far from perfect. The company has been under fire after multiple investigations exposed cruelty at its chicken suppliers.

Food•6 min read

Explainer

Live Animal Export: How Many Animals Die During Transport?

Live animal export is one of the single greatest threats to animal welfare. Every year, billions of animals are crammed into cargo holds, and many don't make it out alive.

Food•8 min read

Perspective

This $22-Billion Industry Suffers from a Serious Lack of Oversight

The live animal trade is thriving. Every day, millions of farmed animals are shipped around the world, panic-stricken and disoriented on their way to slaughter.

Food•4 min read

Reported

Activists Target Smithfield Foods—The World’s Largest Pork Producer

By rescuing animals from captivity and documenting slaughterhouse facilities, activists aim to disrupt oppressive institutions—like factory farms—that harm both human and nonhuman animals and the planet.

Food•5 min read

Perspective

Will Development Banks Finally Agree to Divest from Factory Farms?

To address the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and the ongoing threat of zoonotic disease, advocates must turn their calls for divestment to the factory farming industry.

Food•4 min read

Analysis

Would Slower Growth Make Life Better for Farmed Chickens?

Animal advocates criticize the painful effects of rapid growth in chickens. But poultry producers often draw attention away from the issue, touting new innovations in their breeding methods and general…

Food•5 min read

Explainer

Outgrowing the Chicken House: A Brief History of the Modern Broiler Industry

Today, corporate agriculture raises broiler chickens by the billions, producing birds that have not only outgrown their own bodies but are capable of outgrowing the industry itself.

Food•9 min read

Analysis

Bringing Big Ag’s Right to Harm to the U.S. Supreme Court

Two couples in rural Indiana worked for decades to build the American dream—and then watched it slip away to a massive pig farm. They refuse to give up.

Food•11 min read

Reported

“A Huge Lack of Transparency”: The Problem With USDA’s $19-Billion Coronavirus Relief Program

Millions of farmed animals are being killed as the industry receives billions in COVID-19 federal aid. Advocates want to know where the money is going.

Food•9 min read

Perspective

Leather: Cruel, Not Cool

Leather production poses a triple threat—it inflicts unimaginable cruelty on animals, harms and kills tannery workers, and destroys vital ecosystems.

Food•6 min read

Perspective

Let’s Forge a New Normal for Farmed Animals

Millions of farmed animals were needlessly put to death during the pandemic. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Food•8 min read

Perspective

Gassed, Shot, and Suffocated: How Meat Companies Are Killing Farmed Animals During COVID-19

When slaughterhouses shut down, producers had nowhere to send their animals. As a result, tens of millions of animals were killed and disposed of, posing a serious threat to humans…

Food•4 min read

Perspective

Tyson Foods Kills 2.4 Billion Animals Every Year. Can It Do Good, Too?

As a leading meat producer, Tyson has the potential to do much harm but also much good. It could annually end the exploitation of billions of animals by expanding its…

Food•6 min read