In the early morning mist, thousands of animals stir restlessly in overcrowded barns, packed tightly in the dim light of industrial farms across the country. Their lives, reduced to numbers on a production line, reflect a growing trend in factory farming: faster, cheaper, and larger scale. Behind the walls, the story of how food is made is one of efficiency over welfare, as animals endure harsh conditions to meet the demands of a booming national market. As factory farming expands, the ethical and environmental costs grow with it.
A new interactive map, released by environmental group Food & Water Watch (FWW), paints a picture of factory farm domination in America. The resource introduces density rankings based on the USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture that reveal the high concentration of factory farms nationwide. The accompanying report and New York-specific fact sheet detail how this “rapid industrialization, underpinned by federal and state policy incentives and the failure to regulate factory farm pollution, comes at the direct expense of communities and the environment.”
The organization defines a factory farm as a large-scale animal operation in a confined area that meets certain size requirements: 500 or more beef cattle, 500 or more dairy cows, 1,000 or more hogs, 500,000 or more broiler chickens, and 100,000 or more egg-laying hens.
New York State has seen explosive factory farm growth; now more than half of its counties rank “severe” or “high” for mega-dairy density. According to FWW’s report, in just 20 years, New York has doubled the number of factory dairy farms. “Today, New York is home to 318 mega-dairies, containing an average of 1,337 cows, collectively producing two-thirds as much waste as the entire state’s human population,” the report states. The largest dairies today exceed 25,000 head.
“America has become a factory farming nation. Industrial animal warehouses pockmark our rural communities and litter our environment with tidal waves of unchecked pollution,” says FWW Research Director Amanda Starbuck. “While our politicians and regulators look the other way, these corporate cash cows are only getting bigger—and their impacts are only getting more catastrophic. Enough is enough. New York needs to put a halt on the expansion of this filthy industry now.”
Conversely, small-scale operations (those with fewer than 500 head) have plummeted. New York is bleeding family farms, Starbuck says. New York reported roughly one-third as many family-scale dairies in 2022 compared to 2002. The number fell by 1,900 (43.5 percent) from 2017 to 2022 alone. Farmers who manage to hang on face rising costs, negative returns, and mounting debt.
“It makes me very angry because this is not an inevitable system. This system does not just happen in a vacuum,” Starbuck says. “There have been deliberate attempts over the past decades to concentrate more and more power into the hands of fewer. I’m mad that industrial agriculture has put profits over the environment, family farmers, and healthy communities.”
Nevertheless, the Hudson Valley has a rich agricultural heritage, with most of the region still largely free of factory farms. FWW reports show that Ulster, Dutchess, and Orange counties have none, while Green has one, Sullivan two, and Columbia three, with low to moderate density rankings. By contrast, Wyoming County houses 26 factory farms with over 47,000 animals. Small-scale farms continue to play a vital role in the Hudson Valley’s economy and culture.
“Factory farming is devastating our food system. It pushes for a monoculture of genetics specific to its processing practices while degrading the value of meat by mass-producing it and making it a commodity,” owner Ruby Duke says. “It’s our responsibility as consumers to educate ourselves on where we get our food and what kinds of businesses we want to support. Eating commodity factory-farmed meats is not good for our bodies, our environment, our culture, or the animals whose lives we are taking.”
Duke raises her pigs in the fields and woods of her 100-acre property, where they have a diverse diet of foraged crops grown for them like oats, peas, daikon radishes, and alfalfa, mixed in with wild forage from the woods like acorns, grain, and whey from local goat cheese producer Ardith Mae Farm.
She selects heritage breeds for variability in docility, build, and resilience to the climate, as well as to continue their legacies. “It is important for us to continue raising heritage breed pigs to help preserve these old, diverse genetics,” Duke says.
“Every day we need to make choices of where we put our dollars, hearts, minds, and mouths. My life and heart is at my farm, where I am focused on raising animals in the most ethical, regenerative, and sustainable way I can, while honoring the life of each animal,” she says. “Small farms are feeding communities, and I hope that continues to be recognized, respected, and supported.”
With surrounding developmental pressure and the finite amount of land they own, she says, “We farm within the limits of our land. We never push the ground to the point of being barren. We want our land to be productive and healthy.” This means constantly feeding the soil with what she calls a “closed-loop system.” Hilltop Farm has 60 cattle, who eat hay grown onsite. Their manure is then collected in a building that prevents runoff, with a filtering drainage system so that the water that hits the pasture is clean. The manure is spread over the soil to replenish nutrients. What results is a healthy ecosystem, evident in the vast biome of beneficial insects, earthworms, and snow fleas that appear in late winter.
The couple sells their wagyu beef and cheeses made in their micro-dairy operation directly from the farm to customers. They also offer “cull animals” (old or male dairy cows) at a reduced rate or donate them to a food pantry. “We believe that all people deserve to be fed well,” Collins Brooks says.
Hilltop Farm’s mission is centered around community. “We're woven into the fabric of our community, and they're woven into our farm, and that feels so good,” says Collins Brooks. “That’s the best thing—when you realize you’re doing something good for the people around you.” She had a friend who ate one of her chickens for Rosh Hashanah dinner, and got a text the following morning saying it was the most flavorful, juiciest chicken they’ve ever had. “Farming is hard. We work hard and our bodies hurt, but when we get one text like that, it makes every moment worth it.”
These two farms are just examples of how the Hudson Valley is resisting the national trend toward factory farming consolidation. While large-scale operations dominate much of the US, the region remains committed to small-scale, sustainable agriculture, preserving its long-standing farming heritage and fostering a diverse, community-centered economy.
“We are so grateful to do what we do, where we do it, in the Hudson Valley. It is so beautiful it hurts your heart. When you have a large piece of beautiful land in a place where land is premium, we look forward into the future with great hope and a large dose of pragmatism,” she says. “It’s more than a financial investment. It’s a place that is spiritually fulfilling. We wake up every morning feeling truly fortunate. We are not owners of this land, though we own it; we are stewards, and in order to give this gift to the next generation, we need to steward it right.”