Factory farming is a term referring to the process of raising livestock in confinement at high stocking density, where a farm operates as a factory — a practice typical in industrial farming by agribusinesses. The main product of this industry is meat, milk and eggs for human consumption. However, there have been issues regarding whether factory farming is sustainable and ethical.

Confinement at high stocking density is one part of a systematic effort to produce the highest output at the lowest cost by relying on economies of scale, modern machinery, biotechnology, and global trade. Confinement at high stocking density requires antibiotics and pesticides to mitigate the spread of disease and pestilence exacerbated by these crowded living conditions. In addition, antibiotics are used to stimulate livestock growth by killing intestinal bacteria. There are differences in the way factory farming techniques are practiced around the world. There is a continuing debate over the benefits and risks of factory farming. The issues include the efficiency of food production; animal welfare; whether it is essential for feeding the growing global human population; the environmental impact and the health risks.

History

Agriculture adopted more intensive methods during the eighteenth century. With this growth in production best characterized by the Agricultural Revolution, where improvements in farming techniques allowed for significantly improved yields, and supported the urbanization of the population during the Industrial Revolution.

Innovations in agriculture beginning in the late nineteenth century paralleled developments in mass production in other industries. The identification of nitrogen and phosphorus as critical factors in plant growth led to the manufacture of synthetic fertilizers, making possible more intensive types of agriculture.

The first animals to be factory farmed were chickens. The discovery of vitamins and their role in animal nutrition, in the first two decades of the twentieth century, led to vitamin supplements, which allowed chickens to be raised indoors. The discovery of antibiotics and vaccines facilitated raising livestock in larger numbers by reducing disease. Chemicals developed for use in World War II gave rise to synthetic pesticides. Developments in shipping networks and technology have made long-distance distribution of agricultural produce feasible.

According to the BBC, factory farming in Britain began in 1947 when a new Agriculture Act granted subsidies to farmers to encourage greater output by introducing new technology, in order to reduce Britain's reliance on imported meat. The United Nations writes that intensification of animal production was seen as a way of providing food security.

In 1960s North America, pigs and cows began to be raised on factory farms. This practice then spread to Western Europe. In Britain, the agriculture correspondent of ''The Guardian'' wrote in 1964:

Factory farming is greatly debated throughout Australia, with several people disagreeing with the methods and ways in which the animals in factory farms are treated. Often animals are under stress from being kept in confined spaces, so will attack each other. This results in them having beaks, tails and teeth removed. Many piglets will die of shock after having their teeth and tails removed. This is due to the fact that painkilling medicines are not used in these operations. Others say that factory farms are a great way to gain space, with animals such as chickens being kept in spaces smaller than an A4 page.

From its American and West European heartland factory farming became globalised in the later years of the twentieth century and is still expanding and replacing traditional practices of stock rearing in an increasing number of countries. In 1990 factory farming accounted for 30% of world meat production. By 2005 this had risen to 40%.

Nature of the practice

Scale

Agricultural production across the world doubled four times between 1820 and 1975 (1820 to 1920; 1920 to 1950; 1950 to 1965; and 1965 to 1975) to feed a global population of one billion human beings in 1800 and 6.5 billion in 2002.

During the same period, the number of people involved in farming dropped as the process became more automated. In the 1930s, 24 percent of the American population worked in agriculture compared to 1.5 percent in 2002; in 1940, each farm worker supplied 11 consumers, whereas in 2002, each worker supplied 90 consumers.

The number of farms has also decreased, and their ownerships are more concentrated. In the U.S., four companies produce 81 percent of cows, 73 percent of sheep, 57 percent of pigs and 50 percent of chickens. In 1967, there were one million pig farms in America; as of 2002, there were 114,000, with 80 million pigs (out of 95 million) killed each year on factory farms as of 2002, according to the U.S. National Pork Producers Council. According to the Worldwatch Institute, 74 percent of the world's poultry, 43 percent of beef, and 68 percent of eggs are produced this way.

Europe has become increasingly skeptical of factory farming, after a series of diseases such as Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, "mad cow") and foot and mouth disease affected its agricultural industries, yet despite these outbreaks there are indications that the industrialized production of farm animals is set to increase globally. According to Denis Avery of the Hudson Institute, Asia increased its consumption of pork by 18 million tons in the 1990s. As of 1997, the world had a stock of 900 million pigs, which Avery predicts will rise to 2.5 billion pigs by 2050. He told the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley that three billion pigs will thereafter be needed annually to meet demand.

Distinctive characteristics

Factory farms hold large numbers of animals, typically cows, pigs, turkeys, or chickens, often indoors, typically at high densities. The aim of the operation is to produce as much meat, eggs, or milk at the lowest possible cost. Food is supplied in place, and a wide variety of artificial methods are employed to maintain animal health and improve production, such as the use of antimicrobial agents, vitamin supplements, and growth hormones. Physical restraints are used to control movement or actions regarded as undesirable. Breeding programs are used to produce animals more suited to the confined conditions and able to provide a consistent food product.

The distinctive characteristic of factory farms is the intense concentration of livestock. At one farm (Farm 2105) run by Carrolls Foods of North Carolina, the second-largest pig producer in the U.S., twenty pigs are kept per pen and each confinement building or "hog parlor" holds 25 pens. The company's chief executive officer, F.J. "Sonny" Faison, has said: "It's all a supply-and-demand price question … The meat business in this country is just about perfect, uncontrolled supply-and-demand free enterprise. And it continues to get more and more sophisticated, based on science. Only the least-cost producer survives in agriculture." Faison states:

Key issues

Ethics

The large concentration of animals, animal waste, and the potential for dead animals in a small space poses ethical issues. It is recognized that some techniques used to sustain intensive agriculture can be cruel to animals. As awareness of the problems of intensive techniques has grown, there have been some efforts by governments and industry to remove inappropriate techniques.

Farm Sanctuary defines factory farming as "an attitude that regards animals and the natural world merely as commodities to be exploited for profit." The group contends "this attitude has led to institutionalized animal cruelty, massive environmental destruction and resource depletion, and animal and human health risks."

In the UK, the Farm Animal Welfare Council was set up by the government to act as an independent advisor on animal welfare in 1979 and expresses its policy as five freedoms: from hunger & thirst; from discomfort; from pain, injury or disease; to express normal behavior; from fear and distress.

There are differences around the world as to which practices are accepted and there continue to be changes in regulations with animal welfare being a strong driver for increased regulation. For example, the EU is bringing in further regulation to set maximum stocking densities for meat chickens by 2010, where the UK Animal Welfare Minister commented, "The welfare of meat chickens is a major concern to people throughout the European Union. This agreement sends a strong message to the rest of the world that we care about animal welfare.”

However, given the assumption that intensive farming techniques are a necessity, it is recognized that some apparently cruel techniques are better than the alternative. For example, in the UK, de-beaking of chickens is deprecated, but it is recognized that it is a method of last resort, seen as better than allowing vicious fighting and ultimately cannibalism. Between 60 and 70 percent of six million breeding sows in the U.S. are confined during pregnancy, and for most of their adult lives, in by gestation crates. According to pork producers and many veterinarians, sows will fight if housed in pens. The largest pork producer in the U.S. said in January 2007 that it will phase out gestation crates by 2017. They are being phased out in the European Union, with a ban effective in 2013 after the fourth week of pregnancy. With the evolution of factory farming, there has been a growing awareness of the issues amongst the wider public, not least due to the efforts of animal rights and welfare campaigners. As a result gestation crates, one of the more contentious practices, are the subject of laws in the U.S., Europe and around the world to phase out their use as a result of pressure to adopt less confined practices'.

Human health impact

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), farms on which animals are intensively reared can cause adverse health reactions in farm workers. Workers may develop acute and chronic lung disease, musculoskeletal injuries, and may catch infections that transmit from animals to human beings (such as tuberculosis).

Pesticides are used to control organisms which are considered harmful and they save farmers money by preventing product losses to pests.

In the US, about a quarter of pesticides used are used in houses, yards, parks, golf courses, and swimming pools and about 70% are used in agriculture. However, pesticides can make their way into consumers' bodies which can cause health problems. One source of this is bioaccumulation in animals raised on factory farms.

The CDC writes that chemical, bacterial, and viral compounds from animal waste may travel in the soil and water. Residents near such farms report problems such as unpleasant smell, flies and adverse health effects.

The CDC has identified a number of pollutants associated with the discharge of animal waste into rivers and lakes, and into the air. The use of antibiotics may create antibiotic-resistant pathogens; parasites, bacteria, and viruses may be spread; ammonia, nitrogen, and phosphorus can reduce oxygen in surface waters and contaminate drinking water; pesticides and hormones may cause hormone-related changes in fish; animal feed and feathers may stunt the growth of desirable plants in surface waters and provide nutrients to disease-causing micro-organisms; trace elements such as arsenic and copper, which are harmful to human health, may contaminate surface waters.

In the European Union, growth hormones are banned on the basis that there is no way of determining a safe level. The UK has stated that in the event of the EU raising the ban at some future date, to comply with a precautionary approach, it would only consider the introduction of specific hormones, proven on a case by case basis. In 1998, the European Union banned feeding animals antibiotics that were found to be valuable for human health. Furthermore, in 2006 the European Union banned all drugs for livestock that were used for growth promotion purposes. As a result of these bans, the levels of antibiotic resistance in animal products and within the human population showed a decrease.

The various techniques of factory farming have been associated with a number of European incidents where public health has been threatened or large numbers of animals have had to be slaughtered to deal with disease. Where disease breaks out, it may spread more quickly, not only due to the concentrations of animals, but because modern approaches tend to distribute animals more widely. The international trade in animal products increases the risk of global transmission of virulent diseases such as swine fever, BSE, foot and mouth and bird flu.

''Methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus''''' (MRSA) has been identified in pigs and humans raising concerns about the role of pigs as reservoirs of MRSA for human infection. One study found that 20% of pig farmers in the United States and Canada in 2007 harbored MRSA. A second study revealed that 81% of Dutch pig farms had pigs with MRSA and 39% of animals at slaughter carried the bug were all of the infections were resistant to tetracycline and many were resistant to other antimicrobials. A more recent study found that MRSA ST398 isolates were less susceptible to tiamulin, an antimicrobial used in agriculture, than other MRSA or methicillin susceptible ''S. aureus''. Cases of MRSA have increased in livestock animals. CC398 is a new clone of MRSA that has emerged in animals and is found in intensively reared production animals (primarily pigs, but also cattle and poultry), where it can be transmitted to humans. Although being dangerous to humans CC398 is often asymptomatic in food-producing animals.

A 2011 study reported that according to a nationwide study nearly half of the meat and poultry sold in U.S. grocery stores—47 percent—was contaminated with S. aureus, and more than half of those bacteria—52 percent—were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics. Although Staph should be killed with proper cooking, it may still pose a risk to consumers through improper food handling and cross-contamination in the kitchen. The senior author of the study said, "The fact that drug-resistant S. aureus was so prevalent, and likely came from the food animals themselves, is troubling, and demands attention to how antibiotics are used in food-animal production today."

In April 2009, lawmakers in the Mexican state of Veracruz accused large-scale hog and poultry operations of being breeding grounds of a pandemic swine flu, although they did not present scientific evidence to support their claim. A swine flu which quickly killed more than 100 infected persons in that area, appears to have begun in the vicinity of a Smithfield subsidiary pig CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation).

Animal health impact

Confinement and overcrowding of animals results in a lack of exercise and natural locomotory behavior, which weakens their bones and muscles. An intensive poultry farm provides the optimum conditions for viral mutation and transmission – thousands of birds crowded together in a closed, warm, and dusty environment is highly conducive to the transmission of a contagious disease. Selecting generations of birds for their faster growth rates and higher meat yields has left birds’ immune systems less able to cope with infections and there is a high degree of genetic uniformity in the population, making the spread of disease more likely. Further intensification of the industry has been suggested by some as the solution to avian flu, on the rationale that keeping birds indoors will prevent contamination. However, this relies on perfect, fail-safe biosecurity – and such measures are near impossible to implement. Movement between farms by people, materials, and vehicles poses a threat and breaches in biosecurity are possible. Intensive farming may be creating highly virulent avian flu strains. With the frequent flow of goods within and between countries, the potential for disease spread is high. Confinement and overcrowding of animals' environment presents the risk of contamination of the meat from viruses and bacteria. Feedlot animals reside in crowded conditions and often spend their time standing in their own waste. A dairy farm with 2,500 cows may produce as much waste as a city of 411,000 people, and unlike a city in which human waste ends up at a sewage treatment plant, livestock waste is not treated. As a result, feedlot animals have the potential of exposure to various viruses and bacteria via the manure and urine in their environment. Furthermore, the animals often have residual manure on their bodies when they go to slaughter.

Confinement at high stocking density requires antibiotics and pesticides to mitigate the spread of disease and pestilence exacerbated by these crowded living conditions. In addition, antibiotics are used to stimulate livestock growth by killing intestinal bacteria. According to a February 2011 FDA report, nearly 29 million pounds of antimicrobials were sold in 2009 for both therapeutic and non-therapeutic use for all farm animal species. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that 70% of that amount is for non-therapeutic use.

Environmental impact

Concentrating large numbers of animals in factory farms is a major contribution to global environmental degradation, through the need to grow feed (often by intensive methods using excessive fertiliser and pesticides), pollution of water, soil and air by agrochemicals and manure waste, and use of limited resources (water, energy).

Livestock production is also particularly water-intensive in indoor, intensive systems. Eight percent of global human water use goes towards animal production, including water used to irrigate feed crops.

Industrial production of pigs and poultry is an important source of GHG emissions and is predicted to become more so. On intensive pig farms, the animals are generally kept on concrete with slats or grates for the manure to drain through. The manure is usually stored in slurry form (slurry is a liquid mixture of urine and faeces). During storage on farm, slurry emits methane and when manure is spread on fields it emits nitrous oxide and causes nitrogen pollution of land and water. Poultry manure from factory farms emits high levels of nitrous oxide and ammonia.

Organic pig meat production has a lower global warming potential per kg than does intensive pig meat production. The energy input for free-range poultry meat and eggs is higher than for factory-farmed poultry meat and eggs, but GHG emissions are lower.

Environmental impacts of factory farming can include:

Deforestation for animal feed production

Unsustainable pressure on land for production of high-protein/high-energy animal feed

Pesticide, herbicide and fertilizer manufacture and use for feed production

Unsustainable use of water for feed-crops, including groundwater extraction

Pollution of soil, water and air by nitrogen and phosphorus from fertiliser used for feed-crops and from manure

Land degradation (reduced fertility, soil compaction, increased salinity, desertification)

Loss of biodiversity due to eutrophication, acidification, pesticides and herbicides

Worldwide reduction of genetic diversity of livestock and loss of traditional breeds

Species extinctions due to livestock-related habitat destruction (especially feed-cropping)

Animal welfare impact

Animal welfare impacts of factory farming can include:

Close confinement systems (cages, crates) or lifetime confinement in indoor sheds

Discomfort and injuries caused by inappropriate flooring and housing

Restriction or prevention of normal exercise and most of natural foraging or exploratory behaviour

Restriction or prevention of natural maternal nesting behaviour

Lack of daylight or fresh air and poor air quality in animal sheds

Social stress and injuries caused by overcrowding

Health problems caused by extreme selective breeding and management for fast growth and high productivity

Reduced lifetime (longevity) of breeding animals (dairy cows, breeding sows)

Fast-spreading infections encouraged by crowding and stress in intensive conditions Debeaking (beak trimming or shortening) in the poultry and egg insustry to avoid pecking in overcrowded quarters Forced and over feeding (by inserting tubes into the throats of ducks) in the production of foie gras

Labor

Small farmers are often absorbed into factory farm operations, acting as contract growers for the industrial facilities. In the case of poultry contract growers, farmers are required to make costly investments in construction of sheds to house the birds, buy required feed and drugs - often settling for slim profit margins, or even losses. Factory farm workers also cite the repetitive actions and high line speeds that are features of the large-scale slaughtering and processing facilities that characterize the factory farming poultry sectors, as causing injuries and illness to workers. Forced labor is another problem encountered in factory farming system. Greenpeace’s report described a set of poor labor conditions at Roncador Farm in Mato Grosso, where workers are responsible for maintaining more than 100,000 cattle and 4,000 ha (9,000 ac) of soybeans:

"Working 16 hours a day, seven days a week, the laborers were forced in live in plastic shanties with no beds or sanitary provision. Water for washing, cooking and drinking came from a cattle watering hole and was stored in barrels previously used for diesel oil and lubricants. There was no opportunity to leave the farm. Goods had to be bought from the farm shop at extortionate prices, putting laborers into ever-increasing debt, which they would never be able to pay off—a form of slavery known as debt bondage."

Farmed animals and the law

In the United States, farmed animals are excluded by half of all state animal cruelty laws including the federal Animal Welfare Act. The 28 hour law, enacted in 1873 and amended in 1994 states that when animals are being transported for slaughter, the vehicle must stop every 28 hours and the animals must be let out for exercise, food, and water. The United States Department of Agriculture claims that the law does not apply to birds. The Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act is similarly limited. Originally passed in 1958, the Act requires that livestock be stunned into unconsciousness prior to slaughter. This Act also excludes birds, who make up more than 90 percent of the animals slaughtered for food, as well as rabbits and fish. Individual states all have their own animal cruelty statutes; however many states have a provision to exempt standard agricultural practices.

Regulation of factory farming

In the United States there is a growing movement to mitigate the worst abuses by regulating factory farming. In Ohio animal welfare organizations reached a negotiated settlement with farm organizations while in California Proposition 2, Standards for Confining Farm Animals, an initiated law was approved by voters in 2008. Regulations have been enacted in other states and plans are underway for referendum and lobbying campaigns in other states.

An action plan has been proposed by the USDA in February 2009, called the Utilization of Manure and Other Agricultural and Industrial Byproducts. This program’s goal is to protect the environment and human and animal health by using manure in a safe and effective manner. In order for this to happen, several actions need to be taken and these four components include : • Improving the Usability of Manure Nutrients through More Effective Animal Nutrition and Management • Maximizing the Value of Manure through Improved Collection, Storage, and Treatment Options • Utilizing Manure in Integrated Farming Systems to Improve Profitability and Protect Soil, Water, and Air Quality • Using Manure and Other Agricultural Byproducts as a Renewable Energy Source

Aspects of factory farming

Low monetary cost — Intensive agriculture tends to produce food that can be sold at lower cost to consumers. This is achieved by reducing land costs, management costs, and feed costs through government subsidized agricultural methods. However, critic Michael Pollan argues, "Cheap industrial food, the organic movement has argued, only seems cheap, because the real costs are charged to the environment (in the form of water and air pollution and depletion of the soil); to the public purse (in the form of subsidies to conventional commodity producers); and to the public health (in the cost of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease), not to mention to the welfare of the farm- and food-factory workers and the well-being of the animals.

Standardization — Factory farming methods permit increased consistency and control over product output.

Efficiency — Animals in confinement can be supervised more closely than free-ranging animals, and diseased animals can be treated faster. Furthermore, efficient production of meat, milk, or eggs results in a need for fewer animals to be raised. Economic contribution — The high input costs of agricultural operations result in a large influx and distribution of capital to a rural area from distant buyers rather than simply recirculating existing capital. A single dairy cow contributes over US$1,300 to a local rural economy each year, each beef cow over US$800, meat turkey US$14, and so on. As Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff states, "Research estimates that the annual economic impact per cow is US$13,737. In addition, each US$1 million increase in Pennsylvania milk sales creates 23 new jobs. This tells us that dairy farms are good for the state's economy."

Food safety — Reducing number and diversity of agricultural production facilities may or may not make oversight and regulation of food quality easier.

Animal health — Larger farms may or may not employ greater resources to maintain a high level of animal health. Larger farms can potentially employ expert employees who devote their working hours to assessing animal health, a task which would be cost-prohibitive for most small farms. Larger farms may or may not be more able to make regular use of veterinarians and the resources of state and federal agricultural extension services. Industrial agriculture generally provides more mechanisms for the use of antibiotics to prevent and treat diseases than non-industrial agriculture.

Diseases – Intensive farming may make the evolution and spread of harmful diseases easier. Many communicable animal diseases spread rapidly through densely spaced populations of animals and crowding makes genetic reassortment more likely. However small family farms are more likely to introduce bird diseases and more frequent association with people into the mix, as happened in the recent 2009 flu pandemic Some evidence suggests that antibiotic use in agriculture has contributed to antibiotic resistance in humans. Pollution — Large quantities and concentrations of waste are produced. Lakes, rivers, and groundwater are at risk when animal waste is improperly recycled. Pollutant gases are also emitted. Concentrations of animals can produce unacceptable levels of foul smells as opposed to the tolerable odours of the countryside. In less intensive conditions, natural processes can break down potential pollutants. Large farms can maintain and operate sophisticated systems to control waste products. Smaller farms may or may not be less able to invest in the same standards of pollution control. Ethics — Cruelty to animals: Crowding, drugging, and performing surgery on animals. On some farms, chicks may be debeaked when very young. Confining hens and pigs in crates no larger than the animal itself may lead to physical problems such as osteoporosis and joint pain, and psychological problems including boredom and frustration, as shown by repetitive or self-destructive actions. Animal treatment is subject to welfare legislation, though there is not consensus on what is acceptable, and there is virtually no oversight by authorities. Destruction of biodiversity — A tendency towards using a monoculture of single adapted breeds in factory farming, both in arable and animal farming, gives uniform product designed for high yields, at the risk of increased susceptibility to disease. The loss of locally adapted breeds reduces the resilience of the agricultural system. The issue is not limited to factory farming and historically the problem is reflected in the rapid adoption of one or two strains of crops across a wide area as seen in the Irish potato famine of 1845 and the Bengal rice famine in 1942. The loss of the gene pool of domesticated animals limits the ability to adapt to future problems.

See also

Battery cage

Cattle Health Initiative

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

Controlled-atmosphere killing

Environmental vegetarianism

Farm Sanctuary

Feedlot

Food systems

Gestation crate

Humane Slaughter Act

Intensive pig farming

List of foodborne illness outbreaks

Permaculture

Small-scale agriculture

System of Rice Intensification

Notes

Further reading

Bernstein, Mark H. ''Without a Tear: Our Tragic Relationship With Animals''. University of Illinois Press, 2004. ISBN 0-252-07198-0

Brooman, Simon & Legge, Debbi. ''Law Relating To Animals''. Cavendish Publishing. ISBN 1-84314-129-9

Foer, Jonathan Safran. "Eating Animals". Little, Brown and Company, 2009. ISBN 0-316-06990-6

The State of Meat Production in Developing Countries: 2002 from The State of the Animals II: 2003 ISBN 0-9658942-7-4

Compassion in World Farming – Publications (various)

Health Risks of Hog Confinements

External links

"Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction" – video by ''Democracy Now!''

Category:Agriculture Category:Industrial agriculture Category:Livestock Category:Poultry farming Category:Animal rights Category:Meat industry Category:Animal cruelty Category:Ethically disputed business practices

de:Massentierhaltung fr:Élevage intensif ko:공장형 축산 hr:Masovni uzgoj životinja he:חקלאות תעשייתית it:Allevamento intensivo lv:Industriālā lopkopība

Coordinates	38°53′39″N77°2′54″N
Name	Jonathan Safran Foer
Birth date	February 21, 1977
Birth place	Washington, D.C.
Occupation	novelist, short story writer
Nationality	United States
Notable work(s)	''Everything is Illuminated''
Debut works	''Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002)
Influences	Joyce Carol Oates, Philip Roth, Joseph Cornell, Kurt Vonnegut, Franz Kafka, Joseph Conrad, Gabriel García Márquez, Italo Calvino, J. D. Salinger, Homer, Bruno Schulz
Footnotes	}}

Jonathan Safran Foer (born February 21, 1977) is an American author best known for his novels ''Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002) and ''Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'' (2005). In 2009, he published a work of nonfiction entitled ''Eating Animals''.

Early life

Jonathan Safran Foer was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Albert Foer, a lawyer, and Esther Safran Foer, the Polish-born president of a public-relations company. Foer is the middle son in his tight-knit Jewish family; his older brother, Franklin, is the former editor of ''The New Republic'' and his younger brother Joshua is a freelance journalist. Foer was a "flamboyant" and sensitive child who, at the age of 8, was injured in a classroom chemical accident that resulted in "something like a nervous breakdown drawn out over about three years," during which "he wanted nothing, except to be outside his own skin."

Foer attended Georgetown Day School and Princeton University. In 1995, while a freshman at Princeton, Safran Foer took an introductory writing course with author Joyce Carol Oates, who took an interest in his writing, telling him that he had "that most important of writerly qualities, energy". Foer later recalled that "she was the first person to ever make me think I should try to write in any sort of serious way. And my life really changed after that." Oates served as the advisor to Safran Foer's senior thesis, an examination of the life of his maternal grandfather, the Holocaust survivor Louis Safran. For his thesis, Foer received Princeton's Senior Creative Writing Thesis Prize.

After graduating from Princeton, Foer attended briefly the Mount Sinai School of Medicine before dropping out to pursue his writing career.

Career

Foer was graduated from Princeton in 1999 with a degree in Philosophy, and traveled to Ukraine to expand his thesis. In 2001, he edited the anthology ''A Convergence of Birds: Original Fiction and Poetry Inspired by the Work of Joseph Cornell'', to which he contributed the short story, "If the Aging Magician Should Begin to Believe." His Princeton thesis grew into a novel, ''Everything Is Illuminated'', which was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2002. The book earned him a National Jewish Book Award and a Guardian First Book Award. In 2005, Liev Schreiber wrote and directed a film adaptation of the novel, which starred Elijah Wood.

Foer's second novel, ''Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'', was published in 2005. In the novel, Foer used 9/11 as a backdrop for the story of 9-year-old Oskar Schell, who learns how to deal with the death of his father in the World Trade Center. ''Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'' used many nontraditional writing techniques known as visual writing. It follows multiple but interconnected storylines, is peppered with photographs of doorknobs and other such oddities, and ends with a 14-page flipbook. Foer's use of these techniques resulted in both glowing praise and excoriation from critics. Despite diverse criticism, the novel sold briskly and was translated into several languages. In addition, the film rights were purchased by Warner Bros. and Paramount for a film to be produced by Scott Rudin, with ''Billy Elliot'' and ''The Reader'' director Stephen Daldry attached to direct.

In 2005, Foer wrote the libretto for an opera titled ''Seven Attempted Escapes From Silence'', which premiered at the Berlin State Opera on September 14, 2005. Foer has been an occasional vegetarian (some years vegetarian, some years omnivore, occasionally vegan) since the age of 10, and in 2006 he recorded the narration for the documentary ''If This is Kosher...'', a harsh exposé of the kosher certification process that advocates vegetarianism. In his childhood, teen, and college years of vegetarianism, he called himself vegetarian but still often ate animals. Foer writes he is now a vegetarian. He does not mention being vegan in his writings. Foer published his first book of non-fiction, ''Eating Animals'', on November 2, 2009. Foer said that he had long been "uncertain about how I felt [about eating meat]" and that the birth of his first child inspired "an urgency because I would have to make decisions on his behalf." The book intersperses a personal narrative with a more "broad argument" about vegetarianism.

In spring 2008, Foer taught writing for the first time as a visiting professor of fiction at Yale University. He is currently a professor in the Graduate Creative Writing Program at New York University and published his third novel, ''Tree of Codes'', in November 2010.

Personal life

In June 2004, Foer married the novelist Nicole Krauss. They live in Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York, and have two children.

Awards

In 2000, Foer was awarded the ''Zoetrope: All-Story'' Fiction Prize, in 2003 he won the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, and in 2007 he was included in ''Granta's'' Best of Young American Novelists 2. In Spring 2007, Foer stayed at the American Academy in Berlin as a Holtzbrinck Fellow.

Criticism

In spite of his success, Foer is viewed by some as a polarizing figure in modern literature, due to his frequent use of modernist literary devices. Harry Siegel of the ''New York Press'', titled an article on Foer, "Extremely Cloying and Incredibly False", highlighting the flaws in his style: "Foer is supposed to be our new Philip Roth, though his fortune-cookie syllogisms and pointless illustrations and typographical tricks don't at all match up to or much resemble Roth even at his most inane."

Works

Novels

''Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002)

''Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'' (2005)

''Tree of Codes'' (2010)

Non-fiction books

''Eating Animals'' (2009)

Short stories

"The Very Rigid Search" (excerpted from ''Everything Is Illuminated'') (''The New Yorker'', June 18, 2001)

"If the Aging Magician Should Begin to Believe" (included in ''A Convergence of Birds'')

"A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease" (''The New Yorker'', June 10, 2002)

"The Sixth Borough" (became part of ''Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close''; also featured in the collection "Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren't as Scary, Maybe, Depending on How You Feel About Lost Lands, Stray Cellphones, Creature from the Sky, Parents Who Disappear in Peru, a Man Named Lars Farf, and One Other Story We Couldn't Quite Finish, So Maybe You Could Help Us Out.")

"Cravings"

"About the Typefaces Not Used in This Edition" (''The Guardian'', December 2, 2002)

"Room After Room" (included in Granta's ''Best of Young American Novelists 2'',"Granta 97" published in 2007)

"Rhoda" (published in ''The Book of Other People'', 2008)

"Here We Aren't, So Quickly" (''The New Yorker'', June 14 & 21, 2010)

Other

"Imagining Giovanni's Gift", Review of Contemporary Fiction Vol. 20 (Spring 2000)

"The Proximity of Brad to Bradford: A Brief Introduction to the Lifework of Bradford Morrow", Review of Contemporary Fiction Vol. 20 (Spring 2000)

''A Convergence of Birds: Original Fiction and Poetry Inspired by the Work of Joseph Cornell'' (2001), Editor and contributor

''Sock Monkeys: 200 Out of 1,863'' (2002), Contributor: "Il Fait Plus Froid Ailleurs"

''Lost Tribe: Jewish Fiction from the Edge'' (2003), Contributor: "The Very Rigid Search"

''The Future Dictionary of America'' (2004), Co-editor, with Dave Eggers, Nicole Krauss, and Eli Horowitz

''The Fixer'', by Bernard Malamud (2004), Introduction.

''Masters of American Comics'' edited by John Carlin (2005), Contributor: "Breakdownable"

''The Unabridged Pocketbook of Lightning'' (2005), collects "A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease" and an excerpt from ''Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close''

"A Beginner's Guide to Hanukkah", ''The New York Times'' (December 22, 2005) Op-ed piece

''Joe'', photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto, designed by Takaaki Matsumoto (2006) Text by Foer

"My Life as a Dog", ''The New York Times'' (November 27, 2006) Op-ed piece

''The Diary of Petr Ginz'', edited by Chava Pressburger (2007), Contributor: "What We Say We Are"

''The Street of Crocodiles and Other Storie''s, by Bruno Schultz (Penguin Classics Edition 2008), Forward

"La Vie on Pose", Vogue December 2008

''Ron Arad: No Discipline'' (MoMA 2009), Contributor: "You Look Up Escape Artist"

References

External links

Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals Site for Foer's new book

Authortrek page on Foer; includes numerous links to articles, interview and information.

Who is Augustine? Exploratory site for Jonathan Safran Foer's 'Everything Is Illuminated' (Novel)

Jonathan Safran Foer 'Bookweb' on literary website The Ledge, with suggestions for further reading.

"Who in the world is JSF?" - interview with the St. Petersburg Times of Tampa Bay, Florida.

Author interview in Guernica Magazine (Guernicamag.com)

"Something happened" - Guardian Unlimited article

"Author Podcast Interview" - interview with Paula Shackleton BookBuffet.com

Category:American novelists Category:American people of Polish descent Category:American short story writers Category:American vegetarians Category:Living people Category:Magic realism writers Category:New York University faculty Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Princeton University alumni Category:Writers from Washington, D.C. Category:Writers from New York Category:Yale University faculty Category:1977 births Category:21st-century novelists Category:Jewish American novelists Category:Postmodern writers

af:Jonathan Safran Foer bg:Джонатан Сафран Фоер da:Jonathan Safran Foer de:Jonathan Safran Foer es:Jonathan Safran Foer fr:Jonathan Safran Foer it:Jonathan Safran Foer he:ג'ונתן ספרן פויר nl:Jonathan Safran Foer no:Jonathan Safran Foer pl:Jonathan Safran Foer pt:Jonathan Safran Foer ru:Фоер, Джонатан Сафран sh:Jonathan Safran Foer fi:Jonathan Safran Foer sv:Jonathan Safran Foer uk:Джонатан Сафран Фоер

Joel F. Salatin (born 1957) is an American farmer, lecturer, and author whose books include ''You Can Farm'' and ''Salad Bar Beef''.

Salatin raises livestock using holistic methods of animal husbandry, free of potentially harmful chemicals, on his Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. Meat from the farm is sold by direct-marketing to consumers and restaurants.

Biography

In high school, Salatin began his own business selling rabbits, eggs, butter and chicken from his family farm at the Staunton Curb Market. He then attended Bob Jones University where he majored in English and was a student leader. He graduated in 1979. Salatin married his childhood sweetheart in 1980 and became a feature writer at the Staunton, Virginia newspaper, ''The News Leader'', where he had worked earlier typing obituaries and police reports.

Tired of "having his stories spiked," he decided to try farming full-time after first getting involved in a walnut-buying station run by two high school boys. Salatin's grandfather had been an avid gardener and beekeeper and a follower of J. I. Rodale, the founder of regenerative organic gardening. Salatin's father worked as an accountant and his mother taught high school physical education. Salatin's parents had bought the land that became Polyface after losing a farm in Venezuela to political turmoil. They had raised cattle using organic methods, but could not make a living at farming alone.

Salatin, a self-described "Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-lunatic-Farmer" produces high-quality "beyond organic" meats, which are raised using environmentally responsible, ecologically beneficial, sustainable agriculture. Jo Robinson, the author of ''Pasture Perfect: The Far-Reaching Benefits of Choosing Meat, Eggs and Dairy Products From Grass-Fed Animals'' (2004) said of Salatin, "He's not going back to the old model. There's nothing in county extension or old-fashioned ag science that really informs him. He is just looking totally afresh at how to maximize production in an integrated system on a holistic farm. He's just totally innovative."

Salatin considers his farming a ministry, and he condemns the negative impact on his livelihood and lifestyle of what he considers an increasingly regulatory approach taken by the agencies of the United States government toward farming. Salatin now spends a hundred days a year lecturing at colleges and to environmental groups.

Salatin's farm

Salatin's farm is featured prominently in Michael Pollan's book ''The Omnivore's Dilemma'' (2006) and the documentary films, ''Food, Inc.'' and ''Fresh''. His unconventional farming practices have drawn attention from the alternative agriculture community especially those interested in sustainable livestock management. For example, Pollan became interested in Salatin because of his refusal to send food to locations not within a four-hour drive of his farm, i.e. outside his local "foodshed." "We want [prospective customers] to find farms in their areas and keep the money in their own community," said Salatin. "We think there is strength in decentralization and spreading out rather than in being concentrated and centralized."

Salatin’s philosophy of farming emphasizes healthy grass on which animals can thrive in a symbiotic cycle of feeding. Cows are moved from one pasture to another rather than being centrally corn fed. Then chickens in portable coops are moved in behind them, where they dig through the cow dung to eat protein-rich fly larvae while further fertilizing the field with their droppings.

Awards

The 15th Heinz Awards (with special focus on the environment)

Works

''Salad Bar Beef.'' (1996). ISBN 978-0-9638109-1-5

''Pastured Poultry Profit$''. (1996). ISBN 979-0-9638109-0-7

''You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise''. (1998). ISBN 978-0-9638109-2-2

''Family Friendly Farming: A Multigenerational Home-Based Business Testament''. (2001). ISBN 978-0-9638109-3-9

''Holy Cows And Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer's Guide To Farm Friendly Food''. (2005). ISBN 978-0-9638109-4-6

''Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front''. (2007). ISBN 978-0-9638109-5-3

''The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer''. (2010). ISBN 978-0-9638109-6-0

References

External links

Polyface Farm, Inc.

BusinessWeek article about Salatin

"High Priest of the Pasture", a New York Times article about Salatin

Video podcast of Salatin Lecture 24-Feb-2005 @ U.C. Berkeley (2hrs)

Scribed talk notes of Joel Salatin 19-Feb-2009 @ Stanford

Flavor Magazine (Salatin writes a column, "Rebel with a Cause," for this bi-monthly magazine focused on the DC foodshed)

Category:1957 births Category:Living people Category:American agricultural writers Category:American environmentalists Category:American farmers Category:American libertarians Category:Writers from Virginia