In recent months, this word, macro farm , has become popular, and many do not fully agree with what this term encompasses. In general, those intensive livestock farms that have a huge population density, housed in industrial buildings and whose animals are fed using feed are considered under that name. He opposes extensive livestock farming, where animals go out into the fields and graze relatively freely. However, it is not something that is formally defined, and there are some types of livestock farming that can fall into a kind of gray area, a middle ground between what is commonly considered a macro farm . But for the sake of understanding, let’s stick with that definition for lack of a better one.
The role of these large farms is currently in the political spotlight . On the one hand, in Spain we have more than 47 million mouths to feed; On the other hand, the meat and products obtained from this type of farm tend to be, although cheap, also of poorer quality . There is also an ethical debate about the state of the animals that are kept in them. But in today’s article we are going to focus on environmental impacts , which include the overexploitation of water, land and energy resources.
These impacts become much more significant in arid environments, such as the areas of Alicante, Murcia, Almería or the Monegros region . Places where, ironically, a significant proportion of intensive livestock farms are concentrated. This type of farm requires large amounts of water to supply the animals and maintain adequate hygiene in the facilities. To do this, transfers from other basins are frequently demanded —with the enormous impact that this type of action generates on ecosystems—. In addition, in these areas it is very difficult to grow the raw material with which to produce the feed, so it usually needs to be transported from other places.
Among the damages that have been most talked about is the emission of greenhouse gases , which represent, after all, one of the engines that activates the anthropogenic global change in which we find ourselves. In part, these gases are produced by the animals themselves during the digestion of feed, especially in cattle, and it seems that it could be partially mitigated if the animals’ diet were improved. On the other hand, they are also generated by the system itself, which requires the transport of large quantities of materials, the maintenance of the facilities, and which results in the production of enormous volumes of waste, called slurry, whose decomposition releases methane, carbon dioxide, carbon and other gases .
There are countries in which estimates have been made of the economic cost derived from greenhouse gas emissions caused by intensive farms, in this case, dairy cattle. If we again focus on arid environments, the environmental costs are estimated at up to €160 per thousand liters of milk produced. This represents up to 45% of the average price of milk at origin in Spain .
Another very relevant impact also related to these slurries is the contamination of the land and aquifers . It is common for the waste generated by these farms to be stored in large ponds and end up being used in intensive agriculture. As they accumulate in the soil, they end up infiltrating the subsoil with the water, contaminating them both, and depositing in the mouths. These damages have very obvious consequences in some regions of Spain, such as those that have been accumulating for years in the Mar Menor .
These impacts could be mitigated if efforts are combined. One could try to genetically improve animals , maintain a feed production system that is more local and includes less processed forages and grains, promote better waste management , or locate farms in regions where water is not a factor . limiting .
However, if the goal is more sustainable maintenance both ecologically and socially, the optimal strategies involve much more drastic decision-making.
References
Delgado, A. (2022) The map of the 1,372 municipalities where macro-farms are concentrated in Spain, DATADISTA. Available at: https://www.datadista.com/medioambiente/el-mapa-de-los-municipios-con-mas-macrogranjas-en-espana/ (Accessed: 20 January 2022).
Maté, V. (2022) The price of milk rises after remaining frozen for years, El País. Available at: https://elpais.com/economia/2022-01-05/el-precio-de-la-leche-remonta-tras-permanecer-frozen-during-years.html (Accessed: 20 January 2022).
Navarrete-Molina, C. et al. (2019) ‘Economic evaluation of the environmental impact of a dairy cattle intensive production cluster under arid lands conditions’, Animal, 13(10), pp. 2379–2387. doi:10.1017/S175173111900048X.
Quintero-Herrera, S. et al. (2021) ‘The use of broccoli agro-industrial waste in dairy cattle diet for environmental mitigation’, Cleaner Environmental Systems, 2, p. 100035. doi:10.1016/j.cesys.2021.100035.
Velasco, J. et al. (2005) ‘Nutrient and Particulate Inputs into the Mar Menor Lagoon (se Spain) from an Intensive Agricultural Watershed’.
