Climate Change, Industrial Agriculture And The Law

This policy paper surveys research about the environmental impact of CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) and the role they have in global warming. The paper assesses government subsidies and other policies to explain why there has not been appropriate regulation of the industry.

From Executive Summary:

“This essay explores how industrial livestock operations contribute significant amounts of greenhouse gases while receiving little criticism but extensive financial incentives. It first looks at the genesis of “agribusiness” and its displacement of traditional smaller farms. Next, it discusses the range of climate change impacts from factory-farming operations and explores their direct and indirect climate costs. It then summarizes the scientific, economic and regulatory responses to the issue. The essay concludes by offering some thoughts on solutions that link social farming paradigms, ethical imperatives, and climate change mitigation all at once.”

Table of Contents:

1. Executive Summry
2. How CAFOs Happened
3. The role of Livestock in Climate Change 3.1 GHG Emissions from Industrial Livestock Cultivation 3.2 Comparing Emissions from Industrial Agriculture to Other Sectors 3.3 Expanding Demand for Meat 3.4 CAFOs Are Woefully Under-Regulated
4. Indirect environmental Impacts of Industrial Agriculture 4.1 Water Depletion, Land Use Impacts and Deforestation 4.2 Impact on the Nitrogen Cycle and GHG Emissions 4.3 CAFOs & Climate Change – A Positive Feedback Loop
5. Mitigating a Systemic environmental Problem 5.1 Mitigating through Science 5.2 Economic Approaches 5.3 Rethinking the Regulatory Vacuum 5.4 A Political Problem
6. Some Social and ethical Suggestions 6.1 Produce Less, Consume Less