CAFOs in the U.S.
An in depth look at Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in the United States and their scope in meat production.
What are CAFOs?
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are larger scaled Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) that meet specific size thresholds defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA defines AFOs as "agricultural operations where animals are kept and raised in confined situations" (EPA).
AFOs threaten nearby environments as they are a large source of manure and wastewater that can potentially leak nitrogen and phosphorous, sediments, pathogens, and numerous other pollutants into the environment (EPA). Due to the considerably larger animal production capacity of CAFOs, this leads to more concerns in nearby communities.
The Purpose
My initial project topic focused on CAFOs and studying the ways individual facilities impacted nearby environments. I wanted to map all CAFOs in the United States and branch from there based off of the patterns I found. Unfortunately, data on CAFOs such as locations in every state was difficult to come across as I realized all states had varying laws and regulations on what data farms are required to share.
As a result of this lack of data, I decided to take a bird's eye approach on animal agriculture in the United States instead. I focused on meat consumption and production and CAFO data transparency. The projects I worked on are summarized below.
- Multivariate map showing data transparency levels by state on different CAFO related data.
- Infographic of overall scope of animal agriculture in the U.S.
- 3D map of poultry, hog, and cattle production contract totals in 2017.
- Interactive web map of different kinds of large scale farms including cattle, chicken, and pigs.
- Animation of CAFO estimate totals and VPDES permit totals by state between 2011 and 2020.
The Data (Or the Lack Thereof)
In 2017, the EPA signed a settlement agreement with industry groups that limited the number of livestock related information releases (NRDC). The NRDC recently published a report elaborating more on their concerns on the overall lack of data and regulations of CAFOs. This report heavily inspired my multivariate map of data transparency levels on CAFO related categories for each state.
As you can see, the overall data transparency is extremely low for most states, but this can point me in the right direction on specific categories I want to research more into if a state potentially has more data on it. My overall topic of research this semester has shifted because of the lack of data available on CAFOs, so my future maps are more focused on animal agriculture as a whole and what data I could find.
Bird's Eye Approach
Instead of focusing on individual CAFOs and their impacts, I took a bird's eye approach to learn more about the current scope of animal agriculture in the U.S. I obtained data from multiple resources and focused on meat consumption and production, trends over time, and some information on CAFOs.
Where's the Beef? (Plus Pork and Poultry)
Since I cannot map exactly where each CAFO is located in the U.S., I figured mapping the meat production totals (which was available on the USDA NASS website) per state could give a good idea of where the bulk of meat production is.
More on Large Scale Farming
I was surprised by some of the results in the 3D map of meat production totals and decided to further expand on this with an interactive web map that highlights a few of the major meat producers in the U.S.
Where Are the CAFOs?
Despite there being a lack of CAFO regulation per state in terms of data transparency, the EPA has maintained a list of CAFO total estimates per state between 2011 and 2020. I decided to map this as an animation, but please note that the CAFO totals are mere estimates produced by the EPA and not exact totals. An additional map below the CAFO estimates also maps VPDES permit totals per state between 2011 and 2020.
Supplemental Resource on CAFOs
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment created a story map that goes more in depth on CAFOs with a focus on Missouri. I think this story map presents a strong case on the dangers of CAFOs in nearby communities in Missouri as well as the waste generation, socioeconomic impact, and ethics and equity of CAFOs.
Going Forward
I understand that CAFO operators may be concerned for their individual safety in releasing their facilities location data to the public. Food can be a sensitive topic to touch on and I am by no means trying to persuade people to stop eating meat or shame farmers. That is not the way to make change. The goal of my research this semester was to learn more about this topic at hand, particularly CAFO data, so I can better understand its effects on the environment, the animals, and neighboring communities.
After learning about the effects of CAFOs on surrounding communities, I think the public has the right to know where CAFOs are or are being constructed so they can prepare as needed, especially if these facilities release harmful pollutants that can effect our health and the environment. For further research, I would like to look more into the individual laws and regulations on CAFOs and animal agriculture in general, and how they have changed over time.