This article provides a very interesting map of the factory farms across the country. I was surprised by my local area near Bellingham, Washington: I thought that mostly small, family farms existed here. So why should we care?
Across the nation, while the number of farms raising livestock has decreased, the size of farms raising livestock has increased. In some places this is due to leniency in environmental regulation. And the growth of factory farms directly threatens independent farmers through unfair pricing and lack of competition. It also threatens consumer health through pollution and widespread contamination like last summer’s egg recall. That’s the price we pay for our food to be cheap and convenient.I've just discovered this website and am impressed with the amount of important information regarding food and water--the basic stuff of life.