Huge, industrial-scale factory farms put our health and food supply at risk. They pollute the environment and our drinking water, and they wreck rural communities — all while increasing corporate control over our food.
Years of failed policy brought us to this point, but the time for small regulatory tweaks has passed. It’s time to change the fundamental structure of our food system, and that starts with banning factory farms. This week, Senator Cory Booker introduced critical legislation that would ultimately accomplish exactly that.¹
The Farm System Reform Act would place an immediate moratorium on the construction of new or expanding large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), with a phaseout of existing large facilities by 2040.
This legislation will overhaul the fundamental structure of our food system by:
Stopping new factory farm operations from being built, and stopping existing factory farms from expanding.
Enforcing environmental laws on existing factory farms, including holding vertically integrated companies responsible for the pollution created by the animals they own.
Supporting the transition of existing factory farm operations and contract growers to diversified operations that can serve regional markets.
The bill also includes a long list of vital reforms needed to restore fairness to livestock markets, so that independent family-scale producers can make a fair living raising animals the right way, and support for transitioning existing factory farms to alternative systems of farming.
In 2018, Food & Water Watch became the first national organization to call for a ban on factory farms, because we need to change the fundamental structure of our food system, and that starts with getting rid of factory farms.2
Food & Water Action and its affiliated organization, Food & Water Watch, are advocacy groups with a common mission to protect our food, water and climate. This email was sent to [email protected] - and we're glad you got it, because it's one of the most important ways you can reclaim political power, hold elected officials accountable and resist corporate control.
