Free Trade and the Globalization of Industrial Animal Agriculture

Free trade agreements (FTAs) like NAFTA are a driving force behind the global expansion of factory farming, increased global consumption of factory farm products, and increased overall consumption of animal products. This is one of the most devastating consequences of free trade agreements because of

- surging rates of obesity and associated illness -- diabetes, stroke, cancer, heart disease.

- the destruction of family farms, both at home and abroad, destroying the economic bedrock of rural communities, driving migration (including dangerous undocumented cross-border migration), and creating a population desperate and hungry people who can be readily exploited as sweatshop labor and corporate agribusiness labor.

- increased water and air pollution from expanding factory farms in the US, ramping up production to "serve" a global marketplace

- more animals suffering hellish conditions in those factory farms

- a shift towards concentration and industrialization of agriculture in developing countries as local producers scramble to compete with US producers, facilitated by tariff-free imports of US-produced, US-subsided livestock feed, resulting in the creation of environmentally devastating factory farms in countries that lack the infrastructure to manage the externalities they generate (e.g. lack of adequate water purification) or adequate regulation to keep them in check.

- a very real risk of factory farms incubating zoonotic illnesses with the potential to cause a VAST animal and human death toll

- increased consumption of vital resources to feed rising rates of animal product consumption -- including water, fuel (factory farms are highly energy intensive), and grain -- instead of returning to food systems that use resources more efficiently -- decentralized, local, and primarily plant-based-- exacerbating global food shortages for rising populations in the developing world.

- making it impossible to meet IPCC GHG reduction goals and prevent catastrophic climate change

Globalization and Factory Farming

Hogging the Gains from Trade: The Real Winners from U.S. Trade and Agricultural Policies

Industrial Agriculture, Livestock Farming and Climate Change: Global Social, Cultural, Ecological, and Ethical Impacts of an Unsustainable Industry

Factory Farms And Free Trade Make Us Sick!

Food Security, Farming, and the WTO and CAFTA