Industrial Farms Do Not Feed the Hungry

A recent report compiled by the Environmental Working Group revealed that only 0.5 percent of US agricultural products are exported to developing nations. The report revealed that 86 percent of all US food exports—most of which were meat, dairy, and animal feed—went to Canada, the European Union, and Japan, amongst other countries that fall very low on the Food and Agriculture Organization’s hunger scale. Mother Jones journalist Tom Philpott points out that this discrepancy negates the common argument made by those who profit from industrial farming—such as Monsanto, the American Soybean Association, and DuPont—who claim that the environmentally destructive practice is serving the humanitarian cause of relieving world hunger. “Our agriculture exports mostly go to wealthy countries,” the report concludes. “Hungry people in poor countries struggle to feed themselves.”