Is factory farming humanity’s biggest crime?

I’m Andres Acevedo, and this is The Market Exit. In this essay, I examine factory farming through a historical and moral lens. The story begins not with animals, but with nitrogen, explosives, and industrial agriculture. From the Haber–Bosch process to monocultures, selective breeding, and political subsidies, factory farming didn’t emerge by accident. It was engineered.

This essay includes parts from my interview with historian and bestselling author Rutger Bregman, known for books like Humankind and Utopia For Realists. Drawing on ideas from his book Moral Ambition, we explore six warning signs that suggest factory farming may be one of the gravest ethical failures in human history.

This is not a complex policy debate. It is a simple moral question.

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📺 Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:54 Chapter 1 – How the factory farms took over the world
06:44 Chapter 2 – The greatest moral catastrophe
16:11 Chapter 3 – The solution is so simple
18:43 Thank you

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#factoryfarming #rutgerbregman #animalrights

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Some of you have asked about the sources regarding the increased production of factory farm animals. Here's the source (my translations from Swedish):

On egg production: "A hen that has not been manipulated for a life in factories lays approximately 10–15 eggs per year, primarily during the summer months. Through breeding programs and controlled environments, this number had by 1927 risen to as many as 97 eggs per year. The development has only accelerated since then. Ten years later, a hen in egg factories laid an average of 112 eggs, and today the figure is around 300 eggs a year." Camilla Bergvall, Djurfabrikerna (2025), Mondial, p. 58

On chickens raised for meat: "In order to extract maximum meat from each chicken while keeping costs down, the industry has bred chickens to grow as fast as possible. This selective breeding, combined with specialized feed, controlled temperature, light, and humidity, has created a turbo-chicken. They grow from 40 grams to 2,000 grams in just 35 days. That is 50 times their own body weight. In 35 days." Camilla Bergvall, Djurfabrikerna (2025), Mondial, p. 78

On milk production: "In the 18th century, a cow produced an average of 600 kg of milk per year. By the mid-1940s — that is, after the industrialization of agriculture — a cow instead produced around 3,700 kg. That is already a dramatic increase, but just 50 years later that figure had more than doubled to 8,200 kg. Today the average stands at over 10,000 kilos per cow annually. That means a cow in a Swedish dairy factory produces approximately 27 kg of milk — every single day. Imagine going to the store and trying to carry 27 cartons of milk home with you. These are extreme quantities and an equally extreme increase. From 600 kg to over 10,000 kg. It is hard to take in." Camilla Bergvall, Djurfabrikerna (2025), Mondial, p. 34

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