The CAFO Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories provides an unprecedented overview of concentrated animal feeding operations--aka CAFOs--where increasing amounts of the world"s meat, milk, eggs, and fish are produced. The rise of the CAFO industry around the world has become one of the most pressing issues of our time. Industrial livestock production is now a leading source of climate-changing emissions, a source of both freshwater and ocean pollution, and a significant contributor to diet-related diseases such as obesity and the spread of food-borne illnesses. The intensive concentration of animals in such crammed and filthy conditions dependent on antibiotic medicines and steady streams of subsidized industrial feeds poses moral and ethical concerns for all of us. Featuring more than thirty essays by today"s leading thinkers on food and agriculture, including Wendell Berry, Wenonah Hauter, Fred Kirschenmann, Anna Lappé, Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, and Matthew Scully, The CAFO Reader takes readers on a behind-the-scenes journey into the dismal world of animal factory farming. It also offers a compelling vision for a healthier food system: one that is humane, sound for farmers and communities, and safer for consumers and the environment. The book"s ultimate message is clear: We can and certainly must do better. Along with its photo-format companion volume, CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation): The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories, The CAFO Reader is designed to be an invaluable educational resource in the battle to reform the tragic state of animal factory farming. It will also inform and influence the growing public movement of activists, farmers, policy makers, medical professionals, and consumers who are working to make our food healthier for ourselves, for domesticated animals, and the planet.