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Leader and Environment

We already have ethical options for replacing industrial farming

The industrialised food system harms the environment and animal welfare, but new ways of farming are now addressing these issues and further change is coming

31 May 2023

Larry Brown, owner of Brown's Farm, which produces sustainable eggs for NestFresh, walks around the property in Gonzales, Texas, U.S., on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. Farmers are betting they can profit further with specialty eggs by adding another layer of premiumization: eggs from a special type of sustainable farm that can be trumpeted as being better for the planet. Photographer: Mary Kang/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mary Kang/Bloomberg via Getty Images

THE industrialised food system is approaching a crossroads. Though it undoubtedly produces more than enough food, it is butting up against ethical and environmental limits. The system, especially factory farming, is doing great damage to the environment, biodiversity, water resources and animal welfare. It is also ultimately self-defeating as soils can’t sustain it for much longer – by some estimates we have just 60 harvests left.

But environmental and ethical concerns sometimes come into conflict. As the influential philosopher Peter Singer points out in our feature “Peter Singer on animal rights, octopus farms and why AI is speciesist”, …

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