Industrial Agriculture

Industrial agriculture is characterized as extractive, dependent on inputs, and brittle. Polyface Farm demonstrates that sustainable animal agriculture can produce 300% more meat per acre than conventional commercial operations with no synthetic fertilizers over 50+ years. Approximately 75% of all agricultural land is used for livestock production, generating only 18% of the world's calories — figures the article accepts as real problems. The Green Revolution shifted farming toward industrial monoculture and away from diverse small-scale farming. The article says industrial farming changes were partly driven by real demographic pressure and demand for high-volume production. More than 70% of the world's total food production comes from farms smaller than 25 acres; large industrial operations supply only 30% of global calories. Conventional systems are described as mining soil fertility through tillage, monocropping, chemical applications, and feedlot-style animal production. The article identifies soil management as the fundamental problem behind vegetable nutrient loss. The ecological damage attributed to livestock production is a function of industrial practices, not of meat con…