A Drone Flew Over A Pig Farm To Discover It’s Not Really A Farm.

See link for videos

http://www.upworthy.com/a-drone-flew...ing?g=2&c=ufb1

The owner of this drone, filmmaker Mark Devries, had an idea of what he'd discover here, but still ... whew.


He wanted to get a look at some pig farms operated by Murphy-Brown, a subdivision of Smithfield Farms, far and away the world's largest pork producer. There are over 2,000 farms like this in North Carolina alone.
As the drone comes over the trees, it comes across a lake.

But that's no lake at all.
It's an open sewage lagoon filled with pig feces and urine.
And it's the size of four football fields.

Beyond the lake are buildings in which thousands of pigs live, often packed in so tightly they can't even turn around. For months at a time.

It's unbelievable treatment of a creature believed to be both highly intelligent and self-aware.
Here's an unforgettable post we shared a while back that shows what happens to animals raised as food.
This is no farm. It's a factory built for efficiency.
When the pigs poop and pee, it falls through slats in the floor and gets flushed out into the "lake."
And it gets worse.
The operators of the factory farm have to clean out the cesspool when it gets too full. How do they do it?

They spray pig waste over the fields around the farm — and over neighbors' homes.

"It can, I think very correctly, be called 'environmental racism' or 'environmental injustice' that low-income people, people of color, bear the brunt of these practices."
— Steve Wing, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health

There are studies showing increased levels of asthma in kids nearby, as well as upper respiratory problems and elevated blood pressure in adults.
Here's the video Devries and his drone made.
It's unbelievable, really.

Did you know about all this? Not me.
When the filmmaker calls this "among the most bizarre and disturbing environmental phenomena that have ever confronted America," he's not exaggerating.
Step 1 in stopping these practices is bringing them into the light — and remember, there are thousands of factory farms like this.
Please share this with your friends if you agree that this isn't the kind of secret that should be kept.




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Raining #### :( not good

This is more common that you might think. And here is a real catch... you can't film a farm in Florida without permission, even if you are doing so from public property such as a roadside.

Sick - and one reason why I'm vegetarian

Thanks for this information Tony and helping to open our eyes to the many environmental and human atrocities that happen daily behind our backs.

With a short Google tour there's even more to this horror story. Apparently this Corporation is owned by guess who??? CHINA!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithfield_Foods
http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/smithfield.asp

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Originally Posted by JillHeinerth

...you can't film a farm in Florida without permission, even if you are doing so from public property such as a roadside.

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Really? I'm not doubting you but it seems really wrong. I've been told in my photography classes that if I can see it I can take a picture. The only exceptions I've heard are about very specific things like some wartime photos and topics, which makes sense. I don't understand how a rule like that helps anyone but the farmer with the questionable practices in the first place.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JillHeinerth

This is more common that you might think. And here is a real catch... you can't film a farm in Florida without permission, even if you are doing so from public property such as a roadside.

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Jill, that is alarming as (at least for Florida and the US) it used to be anything seen easily from a public area can be photographed. The rare exceptions were regarding privacy issues like children at a school.
This is what we were taught in media law at UF in the late 80's, but who knows what all has changed since then. (I figure you guys found this out doing one of the PBS docs with Wes...?)
As a former photojournalist, I was always happy to know that we could shoot almost anything from any public access. I remember the cases involving the paparazzi and Jackie Kennedy Onassis as well as some actress photographed topless with a long lens from a wooded area adjacent to her property. Two cases where the law did not side with the photographer and rightly so. There was also a case in Jacksonville where a photojournalist shot the interior of a house fire where you could see the outline of one of the victim's bodies after it had been removed. Also ruled an invasion of privacy.
Why a farm can't be shot from a public road is beyond me. In my old days, I would happily shoot anyway and have it challenged in court (while working for a paper so they'd pick up the legal defense bill)!
I'm much happier shooting mostly pretend stuff now....

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Originally Posted by caveflyer

Sick - and one reason why I'm vegetarian

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My wife and I had wondered if we were the only veggie cave divers!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Red Hat Jef

I don't understand how a rule like that helps anyone but the farmer with the questionable practices in the first place.

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The farmers are more oppressed by these rules than they are the beneficiaries. Many farmers would far rather see the animals in their charge treated far more humanely, but simply can't afford to do what they'd like because of the demands of the industry.

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Originally Posted by WEPIV

Why a farm can't be shot from a public road is beyond me.

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Many, many states have recently passed "Ag Gag" bills after heavy lobbying from the various meat industries. All for the exact reason that if people sees what goes on in there they'll start to notice just how horrible it is.

And this really surprises you? Going back to around 1987, I first heard of the Neuse river pollution: http://www.riverlaw.us/enforcement.html
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...ducer-20061214

OTOH, the Neuse river has the biggest catfish I have ever seen with some over 65 lbs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YujYTVQ4_S0

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JillHeinerth

This is more common that you might think. And here is a real catch... you can't film a farm in Florida without permission, even if you are doing so from public property such as a roadside.

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Apparently, the Ag-gag bill failed in Florida.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ag-gag


But even so, it's got to be unconstitutional (even if there's a state law) when the photograph is taken from a public place. I corresponded with a guy from the Deco Stop on another hobby we shared, and it turns out he and his wife have had a long-term project to document the California coastline over history. He was sued by Barbra Streisand because her house was in one of the shots. She lost.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WEPIV

Jill, that is alarming as (at least for Florida and the US) it used to be anything seen easily from a public area can be photographed. The rare exceptions were regarding privacy issues like children at a school.
This is what we were taught in media law at UF in the late 80's, but who knows what all has changed since then. (I figure you guys found this out doing one of the PBS docs with Wes...?)
As a former photojournalist, I was always happy to know that we could shoot almost anything from any public access. I remember the cases involving the paparazzi and Jackie Kennedy Onassis as well as some actress photographed topless with a long lens from a wooded area adjacent to her property. Two cases where the law did not side with the photographer and rightly so. There was also a case in Jacksonville where a photojournalist shot the interior of a house fire where you could see the outline of one of the victim's bodies after it had been removed. Also ruled an invasion of privacy.
Why a farm can't be shot from a public road is beyond me. In my old days, I would happily shoot anyway and have it challenged in court (while working for a paper so they'd pick up the legal defense bill)!
I'm much happier shooting mostly pretend stuff now....

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Correction: Even school children can be photographed without permission when they aren't in class. (Teacher has to give permission during class.)
The drone is probably the issue here as there are significant threats to privacy which have not been worked out legally.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by oya

Many, many states have recently passed "Ag Gag" bills after heavy lobbying from the various meat industries. All for the exact reason that if people sees what goes on in there they'll start to notice just how horrible it is.

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If somebody doesn't want you to see how they're producing food, it's probably not a good idea to eat it.

I'm an enthusiastic carnivore, but rarely eat "commodity" meat. Tracy and I both grew up in farming & hunting families and are intimately familiar with every step of the process that culminates in a wrapped package of meat. We aren't raising any meat animals now, but get our meat from neighbors who have small farms, plus some wild meat from the woods. Locally produced, grass-fed, hormone and antibiotic free meat is only slightly more expensive than meat from the supermarket, and well worth it in terms of quality, ecological sustainability, and in supporting our neighbors instead of corporate agribusiness.

Mike

PS: There are 9 deer up in the pasture behind our house right now, all made of tasty meat! But deer season is over, and my father is a retired state game warden. If I yielded to the temptation to add one to our freezer, I'd never hear the end of it! :)

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Originally Posted by MORGAN

If somebody doesn't want you to see how they're producing food, it's probably not a good idea to eat it.

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Where is Shirley Kasser when bacon is mentioned :)

Probably busy frying some up!

The bacon we eat at home comes from happy frolicsome pigs - well, happy right up to the last second.

What's the old saying about neither laws nor sausages being pleasant to see being made?

"People who respect laws and enjoy sausages should never watch either one being made."

A quick look at the interwebs shows many versions of this, attributed to everyone from Mark Twain to Otto von Bismarck.

Holy cow! I never knew anyone read any of these.

Back to our regularly scheduled program.


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Absolutely disgusting, but I'm not surprised. Current factory farming methods are ridiculously removed from what most people think of when they think of a "farm".

The only way to make a difference is to show people where their food really comes from, and offer alternatives.

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Originally Posted by MORGAN

The bacon we eat at home comes from happy frolicsome pigs - well, happy right up to the last second.

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Same here. They have one bad day. Up to that point they have been happy cows/pigs/chickens living life according to their instincts.

Here's a good place to start when looking for a local producer: http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html

Tony, see what i started :) ill feed u more stories !

Patpicos
The credit goes to you. Keep them coming!

It has long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.

Leonardo da Vinci


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Anyone care to chime in on the small cages that house calves for veal in cave country? I always loved this sign.

Was it Telford that was contaminated by nearby pig farms back in the early 90s? I remember hearing about the high nitrate levels at some point.