Report: Why Factory Farms Keep Spreading While Better Food Systems Get Shut Out

A new Faunalytics report highlights the significant surge in factory farming in low- and middle-income countries, driven by a mix of financing, infrastructure, and institutional support. International organizations like development banks and UN agencies are actively shaping food systems by channeling resources towards industrial animal agriculture, often overlooking alternative solutions. As billions of dollars flow annually into industrial animal agriculture as a solution to hunger and poverty, the report argues for a shift in approach to focus on nutrition outcomes, affordability, and economic resilience in order to slow the spread of factory farming.

The report emphasizes the need for advocates to meet development institutions on their own terms, using economic and nutrition modeling tools to demonstrate the benefits of plant-based solutions. By exposing how choices are made and by reframing industrial animal agriculture as a deliberate outcome shaped by policy, money, and influence, the report aims to challenge the default towards factory farming and promote more sustainable and ethical food systems in developing nations.