A new interactive map, released today by the national environmental group Food & Water Watch, paints a comprehensive picture of factory farm domination in America. The resource, based on the latest USDA Census of Agriculture, includes new density rankings that reveal the extreme concentration of factory farms — and their waste — in communities across the country, endangering clean water and public health.

The accompanying report details how rapid industrialization, underpinned by federal and state policy incentives and the failure to regulate factory farm pollution, comes at the direct expense of communities and the environment.

Food & Water Watch analysis reveals the top ten states with the most factory farm waste:

1. Iowa: 109 billion pounds annually — 25x the state’s human waste
2. Texas: 102 billion pounds annually — 2.5x the state’s human waste
3. California: 85 billion pounds annually — 1.5x the state’s human waste
4. Nebraska: 80 billion pounds annually — 30x the state’s human waste
5. Kansas: 70 billion pounds annually — 17.5x the state’s human waste
6. Minnesota: 47 billion pounds annually — 6.0x the state’s human waste
7. North Carolina: 36 billion pounds annually — 2.5x the state’s human waste
8. Colorado: 34 billion pounds annually — 4x the state’s human waste
9. Idaho: 34 billion pounds annually — 13x the state’s human waste
10. Wisconsin: 33 billion pounds annually — 4x the state’s human waste

On the whole, the U.S. is home to more factory farmed animals (1.7 billion) producing more waste (941 billion pounds annually, twice our human waste) than ever before. Livestock density is also increasing, with 49 more counties reaching our “Severe” ranking compared to 2017. This factory farm takeover coincided with a steep decline in family-scale farms, including losing two thirds of our family-scale dairies over the past twenty years.

Food & Water Watch Research Director Amanda Starbuck released the following statement:

“America today has truly become a factory farming nation. Industrial animal warehouses pockmark our rural communities, and litter our environment with tidal waves of unchecked pollution. While our politicians and regulators look the other way, these corporate cash cows are only getting bigger — and their impacts are only getting more catastrophic. Enough is enough. Congress must pass the Farm System Reform Act to halt new factory farming now.

All Gifts Matched

Give now and your gift will be ~matched $1-for-$1!

MAKE A GIFT