Factory Farming, Drought, and the Case for Meat Policy Reform
This essay argues that California's ongoing drought crisis demands policy reforms targeting agribusiness and factory farming, not merely domestic water use. Drawing on evidence that agriculture consumes over 80% of California's water supply, the paper contends that meat production is the primary environmental culprit. Beyond water use, the essay addresses the ethical failures of factory farming — including overcrowded conditions and antibiotic overuse — and links excessive meat consumption to public health problems such as cancer and obesity. The paper concludes that a meaningful federal and state food policy must include a significant reduction in factory farming and meat consumption to achieve environmental sustainability, animal welfare, and improved public health outcomes.
- Introduction: Drought context and thesis on factory farming policy
- Agribusiness as the Primary Driver of the Drought: Agriculture's outsized water use demands reform
- The Ethics of Factory Farming: Animal welfare failures justify legislative change
- Meat Consumption and Public Health: Excess meat tied to cancer and obesity
- Conclusion: Policy reform needed across all three dimensions
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper uses a timely real-world crisis — California's drought — as an entry point to build a broader policy argument, making the argument feel urgent and grounded.
- Each body section addresses a distinct dimension of the same problem (environmental, ethical, public health), giving the argument a multi-pronged structure that is easy to follow.
- The conclusion effectively mirrors the introduction by returning to the drought framing and then synthesizing all three argumentative threads in a punchy, parallel list.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates claim-support-implication reasoning: each section opens with a clear claim, supports it with at least one cited source, and draws a policy implication. This disciplined structure helps a reader track the argument even across a short essay. The use of parenthetical APA citations also models proper attribution in persuasive writing.
Structure breakdown
The essay follows a five-part structure: an introductory paragraph establishing the policy context, three body sections (environmental, ethical, and public health arguments), and a synthesizing conclusion. Each body section is roughly one paragraph, making this a concise but complete argumentative essay suitable as a model for undergraduate persuasive writing assignments.
Introduction
Since 2011, the state of California has been in a drought condition. Recently, the media has been abuzz over the governor's legislation to curtail domestic water use. The effort to reduce water use is a noble one. However, the governor needs to focus more on the real culprit: agribusiness. Because California is the nation's largest agricultural producer by far, the governor has not imposed any restrictions on agriculture. Yet something needs to be done to change the methods by which the United States supplies itself with food. Because meat is linked to serious health problems, ethical issues, and environmental problems, a new policy should curtail factory farming.
Agribusiness as the Primary Driver of the Drought
The drought in California highlights some of the problems related to food production and processing. Agriculture uses more than 80% of the state's total water (Sherman, 2015). Even if the current drought situation could be managed without changing agribusiness practices, public policy must eventually come to terms with the unsustainability of the current factory-farming model. As Lurie (2015) points out, the alfalfa used to feed cows consumes the bulk of agricultural water. It is not only the feed for animals that makes factory animal farming a leading cause of the drought. As Sherman (2015) notes, California also produces about 11% of the nation's food supply. A long-term solution to effective food policy is necessary, and it must include a significant reduction in the amount of agricultural land devoted to meat production. Meat production is a major cause of the drought in California, and viewed in this light, it is clear that Americans are producing, processing, and consuming too much meat (Lurie, 2015). Legislation should curtail meat consumption by radically transforming the factory farming industry.
References
Goldbohm, R. H., et al. (1994). A prospective cohort study on the relation between meat consumption and the risk of colon cancer. Cancer Research, 54.
Gossard, M. H., & York, R. (2003). Social structural influences on meat consumption. Research in Human Ecology, 10(1). Retrieved from
Lurie, J. (2015, April 6). 7 key facts about the drought. Mother Jones. Retrieved from http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/04/everything-you-wanted-know-about-california-drought
Sherman, E. (2015, April 9). 6 industries hurt by the California drought. Fortune. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2015/04/09/6-industries-hurt-the-most-by-the-california-drought/
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