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US Factory Farming Estimates (Animals Alive at Present)
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These estimates use the 2022 Census of Agriculture and EPA definitions of CAFOs to estimate the number of US farmed land vertebrates who are in CAFOs ("factory farms").
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Last updated: 11/2/2024
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USDA DataPercentile calculationsTotal % factory farmed
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Sales, Table 30Meat chickensCutoff ('Cutoff Calculations')9,375Meat chicken calculationsThese estimates use the number of animals per farm as the best available proxy for whether the farm is a CAFO with the following premises: (1) All Large sized farms are CAFOs, (2) all Medium sized farms are CAFOs, and (3) for birds, the largest three quarters of Small sized farms are CAFOs, (4) for mammals, the largest half of Small sized farms are CAFOs, and (5) farms are evenly distributed among sizes within each range.
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Animals per farmTotal farmsTotal animalsCumulativeCumulative %Farms larger than cutoff range99.945%
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1 to 199917,0521,880,2549,176,809,391100.000%Farms larger than and including cutoff range99.980%
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2000 to 159995273,123,9219,174,929,13799.980%Percentile of cutoff in farm size range52.682%
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16000 to 29999831,847,9179,171,805,21699.945%% of animals above cutoff99.962%
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30000 to 599991114,756,9179,169,957,29999.925%
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60000 to 9999926021,097,6559,165,200,38299.873%Best Guess
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100000 to 1999991,454217,717,5649,144,102,72799.644%Meat chickens99.962%
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200000 to 2999991,424349,796,7588,926,385,16397.271%Egg chickens98.303%
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300000 to 4999993,5601,407,518,4498,576,588,40593.459%Turkeys99.836%
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500000 or more7,4067,169,069,9567,169,069,95678.122%Pigs98.621%
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Total sales31,8779,176,809,391Cows74.880%
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Total inventory1,737,674,957Total land98.720%
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Total land + fish98.954%
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Inventory, Table 30Egg-laying hensCutoff ('Cutoff Calculations')2,250Egg-laying hen calculations
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Animals per farmTotal farmsTotal animalsCumulativeCumulative %Farms larger than cutoff range98.176%Fish Estimates
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1 to 49211,1373,433,828388,509,039100.000%Farms larger than and including cutoff range98.550%We lack US census data for fish farm size, but consensus in the field seems to be that virtually all fish farms are factory farms in terms of confinement, disease, and other relevant metrics.
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50 to 9916,8791,048,565385,075,21199.116%Percentile of cutoff in farm size range66.095%
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100 to 3997,2841,151,735384,026,64698.846%% of animals above cutoff98.303%
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400 to 31991,3041,452,893382,874,91198.550%US fish (see sheet "Fish Estimates"):532,510,706
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3200 to 99994723,185,223381,422,01898.176%
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10000 to 199991,11416,891,197378,236,79597.356%Confirmatory Calculation
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20000 to 499991,71349,918,610361,345,59893.008%% total farms accounted for:14.87%
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50000 to 9999928018,551,646311,426,98880.160%
EPA 2012: 'CAFOs make up approximately 15 percent of total AFOs'
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100000 or more347292,875,342292,875,34275.384%This only weakly confirms our choice of cutoffs, which assume all farms above a certain size (per species) are CAFOs, while in reality some non-CAFO farms will be larger than some CAFO farms.
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Total inventory240,530388,509,039
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Sales, Table 30TurkeysCutoff ('Cutoff Calculations')4,125Turkey calculations
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Animals per farmTotal farmsTotal animalsCumulativeCumulative %Farms larger than cutoff range99.761%Citations
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1 to 19998,240317,356257,685,918100.000%Farms larger than and including cutoff range99.877%USDA Census of Agriculture
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2000 to 799978299,058257,368,56299.877%Percentile of cutoff in farm size range35.423%EPA CAFO definitions
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8000 to 1599981996,573257,069,50499.761%% of animals above cutoff99.836%
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16000 to 299991563,461,753256,072,93199.374%Notes
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30000 to 5999951922,892,862252,611,17898.031%This is a rough estimate based on the data we have available. We could not find any data on % of Small and Medium sized farms that meet the EPA criteria for CAFOs, so we took our best guess and hope to update it with hard evidence in the future.
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60000 to 9999957442,923,542229,718,31689.147%
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100000 or more834186,794,774186,794,77472.489%
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Total sales11,154257,685,918Note that a CAFO as defined by the EPA and what the public would regard as a "factory farm" are not necessarily the same. For instance, a farm with 37,500 chickens or 3,000 pigs is only considered a CAFO if it meets certain conditions regarding surface water pollution, but farms of these sizes that don't meet these conditions could still house animals in ways that would be publicly regarded as crowded "factory" conditions.
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Total inventory97,312,583
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Inventory, Table 21PigsCutoff ('Cutoff Calculations')563Pig calculations
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Animals per farmTotal farmsTotal animalsCumulativeCumulative %Farms larger than cutoff range97.844%
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1 to 2443,490254,45573,817,751100.000%Farms larger than and including cutoff range98.732%
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25 to 492,86094,41273,563,29699.655%Percentile of cutoff in farm size range12.525%There will be another Census of Agriculture for 2017, which will likely be published in the spring of 2019. We will update these estimates when it is available, and may add more nuance to our methodology at that time.
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50 to 991,570101,01673,468,88499.527%% of animals above cutoff98.621%
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100 to 199958125,65373,367,86899.391%
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200 to 4991,159360,35973,242,21599.220%Sales figures are used for meat chicken animals per farm because the Census lacks meat chicken inventory by farm size. We still use the total inventory figure in the estimate of total % factory farmed.
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500 to 999957655,68372,881,85698.732%
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1000 to 19991,7022,300,77672,226,17397.844%
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2000 to 49994,57314,396,85469,925,39794.727%All pigs are assumed to be over 55 pounds, for the purpose of using the EPA definitions of CAFOs.
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5000 or more3,54055,528,54355,528,54375.224%
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Total inventory60,80973,817,751Fish refers to finfish, not finfish and shellfish.
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Cutoff ('Cutoff Calculations') (beef/veal)225
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CowsCutoff ('Cutoff Calculations') (dairy)150
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Inventory, Table 14Cutoff (average)188Cow calculations
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Animals per farmTotal farmsTotal animalsCumulativeCumulative %Farms larger than cutoff range73.771%
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1 to 9189,417923,35487,954,742100.000%Farms larger than and including cutoff range83.311%
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10 to 19135,8861,859,61087,031,38898.950%Percentile of cutoff in farm size range88.384%
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20 to 49177,8225,482,41385,171,77896.836%% of animals above cutoff74.880%
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50 to 9993,3116,413,13579,689,36590.603%
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100 to 19961,5958,390,70673,276,23083.311%
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200 to 49945,14513,649,70464,885,52473.771%
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500 to 99917,13911,715,79251,235,82058.252%
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1000 to 24998,37512,197,28439,520,02844.932%
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2500 to 49991,9806,780,41927,322,74431.065%
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5000 or more1,45320,542,32520,542,32523.356%
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Total inventory732,12387,954,742