The report dubbed: Climate Change and Cruelty: Revealing the True Impact of Factory Farming revealed the effects of industrial farming on climate action. The report mainly made reference to the world’s four factory farm giants namely China, Brazil, the USA, and the Netherlands (representing Europe).

Factory farms are a system in which many animals are raised in highly intensive methods, confined and overcrowded under very controlled conditions. In this system, the goal is to rapidly produce large supplies of meat at very low cost, all year round, and therefore, to maximize profit.

According to the report, food and agriculture contribute about 26% of global human Green House Gases. Among these, factory farming was found to be the largest global source of methane and nitrous oxide.  Methane is a greenhouse gas with a high potential to trigger global warming. Some sources of methane include cow burping and manure from pigs. The Netherlands, Brazil, and USA were estimated to have recorded 21%, 24%, and 22% of the methane from pig manure respectively.

The report further revealed that across the four giants of factory farming, annual chicken consumption creates the same climate change impact as keeping 29 million cars on the road for a year. According to the food and agriculture organization, the global estimates of emissions by farm species namely cattle, pork, chicken, buffalo, small ruminants, and other poultry includes emissions attributed to edible products of the farmed animals. It also includes other goods and services, such as drought power and wool.

Dr. Victor Yamo, Farming Campaigns Manager, World Animal Protection- Africa noted that in the factory farming system, large portions of the forest cover are cleared to grow animal feed. This drives deforestation, causing carbon to be released into the atmosphere as trees are cut down. Adding that the destruction of the biodiversity also renders the climate water depleted. He noted further that whereas animal feed production requires large quantities of water, the remaining percentage to be used by humans and animals is contaminated by fertilizers and pesticides used on the farms. All of the current factory farming practices were found to have negative impacts on the climate.

Factory farming is the silent culprit of the global climatic problems, with 69 billion meat chickens and 1.5 billion pigs farmed each year. The problem is projected to grow hugely across the globe in the coming years, with overall demand for meat expected to increase by as much as 30% in Africa, 18% in the Asia Pacific, 12% in Latin America, and 9% in North America by 2030.