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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is the Agriculture Report. |
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Demand for meat, milk and eggs |
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is growing around the world. |
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To meet that demand, |
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the way these products are produced is changing. |
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The change is from small farms |
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to large industrial operations. |
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This has already happened in the United States. |
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But not everyone is happy with the change. |
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As a result, there is also a growing demand |
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for products growing locally on small farms. |
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In Clinton, North Carolina, some old buildings |
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are all that remain from the days |
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when James Lame raised hogs next to his home. |
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He saw that small farmers were having trouble |
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competing with companies that own large farms. |
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"They had better consistency, |
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better pork quality, better genetics. |
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So after college, in '98, |
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I decided to try and modernize." |
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He stopped raising hogs in small building |
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and built two industrial-scale hog barns, |
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each of them holds 1,500 hogs. |
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Nearly all pigs are raised this way |
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in the United States now. |
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The government says |
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the efficiency of large-scale production |
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in a controlled environment |
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has helped reduce the price of a pork chop |
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by nearly 20 percent since 1998. |
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These efficient and intensive production methods |
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are being used around the world, |
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many experts say that is a good thing |
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as the demand for meat grows. |
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But livestock expert Carolyn Opio points out |
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that the land, water |
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and feed required to produce it are limited. |
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"If we are to produce within the constraints |
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that we are facing today, efficiency, I think, is key." |
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Mrs Opio is with the United Nations Food |
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and Agriculture Organization, |
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but the results of the efficiency |
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are not always necessarily good. |
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The waste from thousands of confined animals |
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can pollute waterways, and produce greenhouse gases. |
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And some health experts are concerned about the antibiotics |
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and other chemicals being put in the animal's feed. |
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Others criticize the conditions in which the animals are kept. |
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So today a growing number of people |
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are like Kevin Summers in Amissville, Virginia, |
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are returning to small-scale farming. |
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"In order to feed the world, I think this is a better way, |
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It's a cleaner way. It's a more humane way." |
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More Americans today say they want to know |
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where their food comes from, |
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some might like the way Kevin Summers raises his hogs. |
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"I can see the entire process unfold |
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before my eyes and know that they had a good life |
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and were healthy and happy." |
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The hogs eat damaged apples and old pumpkins, |
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this reduces food waste, |
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but this kind of farming also means higher prices. |
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Even so, Kevin Summers as he believes |
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it would still be possible to meet global demand this way. |
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"It would just involve people making the choice |
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to buy this kind of food and say that, |
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'I care about something other than just the cost.'" |
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And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English, |
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I'm Karen Leggett. |
