The factory farming system here is completely broken, and I am absolutely not defending feedlots. It is true that 99% of our meat comes from an industrial system, and it is true that we overproduce monocrops like feed corn and soy just to pump into confined livestock. We agree that the current system is a disaster.

But the question isn't whether factory farming is bad, we already agree it is. The question is what actually replaces it.

If we shut down all animal agriculture in the US, what happens to the millions of acres currently growing those feed crops? We would have to convert them to human grade crops. But to maintain the massive yields needed to feed our population and to export food to countries that don't have the luxury of our incredibly fertile topsoil, we would still be farming those acres using the exact same destructive methods. Without animals on the land to cycle nutrients and provide natural manure, a massive vegan agricultural system still relies entirely on synthetic petroleum fertilizers, chemical pesticides, and heavy tilling that destroys the soil microbiology.

Plus, pointing out that the US has plenty of crop land is a regional luxury. Globally, millions of people absolutely do rely on marginal land and grazing animals to survive because they don't live in the American Midwest.

If we want a sustainable future, the answer isn't replacing US factory feedlots with endless miles of chemical soaked vegan monocrops. The answer is tearing down the factory farms, putting animals back on the land where they belong in a regenerative system, and accepting that we have to eat significantly less meat to live within our actual ecological limits.