The CAFO Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories [Paperback]

Daniel Imhoff (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2010

The CAFO Reader is possibly the most powerful indictment of factory farming ever compiled, with essays from 30 of the world's leading experts. It also offers a vision for a food system that leaves behind the horrific 20th century model of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.

The CAFO Reader brings the tragic world of industrial food production into sharp focus with essays on every facet of factory farming: health, environment, animal welfare, labor, politics, economics, and so on. This affordable reader is a companion book to the larger photo-essay volume, CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories. It is sure to become a relied-upon resource for activists, food policy makers, academics, the media and the general public for many years. This project is a follow-up to the highly successful project Fatal Harvest, published in 2002. It is being supported by an extensive outreach campaign with events around the country.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"But for the past several decades, factory farms have made meat ever cheaper, and -- as the excellent book The CAFO Reader makes clear -- the pain and trauma are thrown in for free."

--The Atlantic, March 2011

"Essential reading."--Evening Standard

"Not only are most of the top critics of factory farming gathered together, the excerpts chosen represent some of their most important work. In short, no other book provides such a thorough introduction to factory farming."--National Catholic Reporter

"Gives a full picture of the environmental, social, and ethical implications of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations."--Grist Magazine: Environmental News & Commentary

"For those who care about one of the greatest moral failings of our times, the Cafo Reader is indispensable."--Choice

"The [book] is not meant solely to create shock and awe, but instead provides lines of reasoning that have the capacity to stick."--Edible San Francisco

From the Back Cover

The CAFO Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories provides an unprecedented overview of concentrated animal feeding operations -- aka CAFOs -- where increasing amounts of the world's meat, milk, eggs, and seafood are produced. The rise of the CAFO industry around the world has become one of the most pressing issues of our time. The intensive concentration of animals in such crammed and filthy conditions dependent on antibiotic medicines and steady streams of subsidized industrial feeds poses moral and ethical concerns for all of us. Featuring more than thirty essays by today's leading thinkers on food and agriculture, The CAFO Reader is a behind-the-scenes journey into the dismal world of animal factory farming. It also offers a compelling vision for a healthier animal food system: one that is humane, sound for farmers and communities, and safer for consumers and the environment.

"Factory farming isn't just killing: It is negation, a complete denial of the animal as a living being with his or her own needs and nature. It is not the worst evil we can do, but it is the worst evil we can do to them. It confronts us with the animal equivalent of Abraham Lincoln's condemnation of human slavery: 'If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.'" -- Matthew Scully, Dominion

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Watershed Media; 1 edition (June 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970950055
• ISBN-13: 978-0970950055
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Government     > Public Policy

More About the Author

Dan Imhoff is a researcher, author, and independent publisher who has concentrated for nearly 20 years on issues related to farming, the environment, and design. He is the author of numerous articles, essays, and books including CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories; Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill; Paper or Plastic: Searching for Solutions to an Overpackaged World; Farming with the Wild: Enhancing Biodiversity on Farms and Ranches; and Building with Vision: Optimizing and Finding Alternatives to Wood.

Dan is a highly sought-after public speaker who lectures and conducts workshops on a variety of topics, from food and farming to environmental design and conservation. He has appeared on hundreds of national and regional radio and television programs, including CBS Sunday Morning, Science Friday, and West Coast Live. His books have gained national attention with coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle, Newsweek, the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune. He has testified before Congress and spoken at numerous conferences, corporate and government offices, and college campuses, including Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Vermont Law School.

Dan is the president and co-founder of Watershed Media, a non-profit publishing house based in Healdsburg, California. He is the president and a co-founder of the Wild Farm Alliance, a ten-year-old national organization that works to promote agriculture systems that support and accommodate wild nature.

Between 1990 and 1995, Dan worked at Esprit International, where he was communications director for a team at the forefront of environmental product design. He received a B.A. in International Relations from Allegheny College and an M.A. in International Affairs from the Maxwell School of Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

He lives on a small homestead farm in Northern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vegan.com review of the CAFO Reader, June 22, 2010, July 7, 2010

By 

Dan Imhoff - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The CAFO Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories (Paperback)

The CAFO Reader is now in stock at Amazon.com. If you're a serious animal advocate, this is a book you'll want to own.

CAFO stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation; it's the industry's term for a factory farm. This book brings together key writings by just about every prominent critic of factory farming, including both conscientious omnivores and animal rights advocates. In its pages, you'll find the writing of Michael Pollan, Matthew Scully, Eric Schlosser, Wendell Berry, Anna Lappé, Bernard E. Rollin, Tom Philpott, Joel Salatin, and many others. I was flattered that I was invited to update and revise an excerpt from my own Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money for inclusion in this book.

Not only are most of the top critics of factory farming gathered together, I found that the excerpts chosen consistently represent their most important work. In short, no other book provides such a thorough introduction to factory farming--and how you can play a role in toppling this system.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If You Eat Food, This is Essential Reading, July 14, 2010

By 

Tod Brilliant (healdsburg, ca USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The CAFO Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories (Paperback)

I've read a fair number of books, essays and blog posts about industrial farming. About meat eating. About the virtues of one diet over another. I've seen the topic politicized and 'soapboxed' every which way. Finally, in the CAFO Reader I've found a book that takes a reasoned, articulate and compelling view.

I'll send this book to my liberal and conservative family members, to my carnivorous and vegan friends. Where it excels is in avoiding the hyperbole and old saws, replacing them with the staggering power of factual analysis of an incredibly problematic (I'm being nice) industry.

If you eat food, and give a damn about yourself and your future, this is essential reading.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's WHO'S for dinner, not WHAT'S for dinner, November 19, 2010

By 

Marc Bekoff (Boulder, Colorado USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The CAFO Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories (Paperback)

This book is a must read for anyone interested in where food comes from and why we must change our ways. It's not WHAT'S for dinner but WHO'S for dinner and we must come to terms with the choices we make. We can all do more to make this a kinder and more compassionate world for all beings. This book would be great for discussion classes and reading groups.