What is a CAFO?
In plain English, a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, sometimes called a factory “farm”) is an industrial facility where livestock are kept inside a structure and fed, rather than pastured. They can house thousands – even tens of thousands – of animals in cramped conditions. Their waste is much more than pee and poop – it’s sewage containing E. coli and other biohazards, as much as a small city,
Dairy cows are feeding from a trough on a CAFO, a concentrated animal feeding operation. Confined for a minimum of 45 days, animals in CAFOs have limited or no exposure to vegetation or access to the sun in some cases. These animals are packed in confinements with thousands of other animals with little room. / EPA photo
which operators dump rather than treat. These facilities have about as much to do with the traditional family farm as the assembly line does with the blacksmith’s shop.
Small farms are actual farms.
CAFOs are factories for sewage, biohazards, and pollutants.
How are small farms different?
CAFOs and small, family farms represent two distinct approaches to agriculture. CAFOs are large-scale facilities designed for maximum efficiency in meat, dairy, or egg production. Animals in CAFOs often live in high densities, with limited space for movement and restricted access to natural environments. They are typically fed specialized diets aimed at maximizing growth or production, often supplemented with additives, which together with CAFO conditions shorten their lives.
Small farms are actual farms. Small farms commonly use more sustainable farming practices than CAFOs, prioritizing soil and animal health, biodiversity, and water conservation over maximizing output at the expense of natural resources. A term gaining popularity is “circular agriculture”, which focuses on a closed cycle of inputs and outputs, minimizing ecosystem impacts and disruption for neighbors.
"I am used to farm smells. I am a farmer myself. Manure spread, and even the turkey CAFO a mile away, were unpleasant but familiar smells that our community has lived with. The digestate was nothing like these. I could only liken it to having my head in a full port-a-potty. I am over a mile away."
How do CAFOs harm the environment?
One of the major concerns surrounding CAFOs is water pollution. These facilities produce immense quantities of sewage, including chemical and biological hazards, disposed of primarily by field application. This sewage can leach into groundwater or runoff into nearby surface waters during rain events or through buried drainage networks that pipe leachate directly to surface drains and streams. High levels of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus flow to waterways, fueling algal blooms. One result is plummeting oxygen levels in water, creating “dead zones” where aquatic life struggles to survive. Toxic algal blooms played a central role in the 2014 Toledo water crisis, when the Lake Erie water source for the entire city became undrinkable and toxic on human contact
Read more stories of CAFO impact from Fremont, Michigan residents
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Policy Brief: The hidden environmental and economic costs of anaerobic digesters and biogas
The Water We Drink, The Land We Live on: A Call to Action Against Confined Animal Feeding Operations
Great Lakes Manure Conference: Agriculture Runoff and Lake Erie
AG Nessel’s lawsuit against Allegan County CAFO
FLOW joins amicus brief in Michigan Supreme Court CAFO case
