Abstract

One of the most momentous social revolutions of the past century was occasioned by the industrialization of animal agriculture. Yet despite its profound effect on all aspects of human life, including demographical distribution of human population, sustainability of the food supply, effects on public health, major modifications on the workforce, environmental despoliation, consolidation of wealth, technological innovation, the quality of life of billions of sentient creatures – this revolution was ignored by scholars in the United States until the first decade of the 21st century. It was only then that Johns Hopkins University, in conjunction with The Pew Charitable Trusts, undertook the first comprehensive critical analysis of the negative effects of intensive, industrialized agriculture.