Project Animal Farm Book Summary - Project Animal Farm Book explained in key points

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Project Animal Farm summary

Name: Project Animal Farm
Rating: 3.5 (11 reviews)
Author: Sonia Faruqi

Sonia Faruqi

An Accidental Journey into the Secret World of Farming and the Truth About Our Food

3.5 (11 ratings)

23 mins

What is Project Animal Farm about?

Project Animal Farm (2015) is all about one of the most harmful industries of our time: the modern mass production of meat, eggs and milk. It delves into the horrible conditions farm animals are kept in and the dangerous effects of factory farming on humans, animals and the environment.

Table of Contents

Project Animal Farm
summarized in 11 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 11

What’s in it for me? Discover the harsh reality of mass-produced dairy and meat, and learn about alternatives for the future.

Humans have kept animals for meat, dairy and eggs for a substantial part of our history. When we think of farms now we conjure up images of green pastures, rolling hills and animals roaming free, but does this resemble reality?

The short answer is no. Today’s farms are more likely to resemble the factories of early industrial times, both for the animals and the people who work there. So what has changed and what will the future look like?

These blinks take us on a journey into the world of modern factory farming and animal keeping. We learn the harsh truth, how it affects us and what the alternatives are.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

how laying 300 eggs per year affects a hens anatomy;
why an hour in a modern factory farm can be lethal to people with asthma; and
why Roger Harley was offered $250,000 to stop farming.

Mass production, on the rise for decades, is harmful to both humans and animals.

Have you ever wondered where the meat in your supermarket comes from? And why are mega packs of meat so cheap? You probably know it’s the result of mass production, but how exactly does that work?

Mass production is a worldwide phenomenon. In the last few decades, there’s been a global shift away from small pastoral farms to large factory-style plants that allow us to produce more meat than ever before.

The food industry has become globalized. People in China now eat chicken breast produced in the United States and American farmers feed their cows on food grown in Brazil.

However, this newly globalized mass production causes a number of problems for both humans and animals.

Workers in these mega plants have to come face to face with some of the cruelest conditions for animals on the planet. They have to learn to mentally shut themselves off just to continue their work. In fact, many of the employees at factory farms become vegetarians.

Factory-farm employees also face physical dangers at work. They’re exposed to high levels of ammonia from the animals’ urine and feces, which often results in a chronic or even incurable cough.

If you have asthma, you can die if you’re exposed to these fumes unprotected for just one hour.

Of course, these plants are also awful for the animals, who don’t have the option to leave like the human workers do. They live out the entirety of their short lives in constant misery.

Chickens on factory farms are kept in tiny cages, mutilated and left in fear.

Many people break out in tears when they enter an egg factory for the first time. Why is that?

Well, the chickens in these factories are kept in tiny battery cages that are lightless and dirty. When Sonia Faruqi, the author, was researching egg factories, she found that four to eight chickens were sometimes stuffed into cages the size of a microwave. The cages are stacked on top of each other and rarely or never cleaned, with up to 300,000 animals in one factory.

Pig factories are more like torture dungeons than production plants.

The pig is one of the world’s most intelligent and social animals. They love to interact with others and can build strong, emotional relationships. So how are they treated in the factory-farm system?

The meat industry views pigs purely as tools of production, not as living beings, and it shows. Pigs are bred to give more meat and have bigger litters than usual; today, they’re fatter than ever and have piglets in more rapid cycles.

Slaughter houses are traumatic, dangerous and deadly for both animals and humans.

We’ve looked at the conditions for live animals, but how do their tragic lives end?

Unfortunately, the kill process is also very difficult for them. Slaughter is often done incorrectly and goes unchecked by inspectors.

“Free-range” farms aren’t tightly regulated in the United States and Canada.

When you go into the supermarket, you’ll find eggs with different labels. Some are organic and others are free-range, but what does “free-range” actually mean?

In the United States and Canada, “free-range” simply means that the animals have some kind of access to the outdoors. Outdoor access isn’t clearly defined, however, as the law lacks rules about what that access is supposed to look like.

Organic dairy cows spend most of their lives being prodded by electric sticks and are rarely allowed outside.

We’ve seen that the United States and Canada have weak regulations when it comes to free-range farms, but sadly the laws for organic farms are still far from rigorous.

Organic dairy cows are treated better than cows in factories, but their treatment is still sub-par. You might assume that organic farmers want their animals to live happily because they allow the cattle to go outside for 120 days; the reality, however, is quite different.

Some farms do care for their animals, but they’re constantly under threat from big companies and ineffective public policies.

In recent years, a new movement of small farms that want to care for their animals properly has emerged. Such farmers are against the horrible conditions animals are subjected to in factory farms.

Animals on these new farms are allowed to live the way they want. Roger Harley’s farm in Canada, for example, seems like heaven on earth compared to a factory farm. He’s an organic pasture farmer and his animals have enough space to roam for acres.

Factory farms are breeding grounds for diseases that are dangerous for both animals and humans.

You’ve probably heard of avian flu or swine flu, which are both side effects of meat production.

The terrible conditions the animals are kept in are breeding grounds for disease. Animals are caged, mistreated, genetically modified and constantly under stress – a paradise for viruses!

Meat consumption has reached unprecedented new highs and continues to rise, thus contributing to obesity and environmental pollution.

Meat was a rare commodity a hundred years ago, but today most Americans eat it on a daily basis. This has profound implications for our future.

Meat consumption is increasing in many parts of the world. The wealthier people get, the more meat they eat. In Singapore, for example, the average meat consumption is 160 pounds per person per year – and it’s still on the rise.

We could improve the agricultural sector by using smaller farms, having more compassion for animals and involving more women in the industry.

We’ve seen several examples of bad farms, but what’s the answer to all this? What style of farming should we switch to?

There is a way to make use of farm animals without causing them any suffering. The author found one viable answer when she visited The Lemon Dairy and Egg farm in Belize.

We have to change our consumption behavior, return to pastoral farming and regulate the industry more tightly.

We need to change a number of things about the food industry to ensure a healthier and more sustainable tomorrow.

First, we need a serious shift in our behavior as consumers. These days, most people base their purchasing decisions entirely on price. They don’t think too much about the lives of the animals that end up in their shopping carts.

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Best quote from Project Animal Farm

Animal use has become synonymous with animal abuse.

—Sonia Faruqi

About the Author

Sonia Faruqi is a Dartmouth graduate and former Wall Street investment banker who left her corporate job to help reform the food industry and improve the lives of people and animals everywhere.

Who should read Project Animal Farm?

Meat eaters
Animal rights or environmentalist activists
Anyone who wants to know where their food comes from

Categories with Project Animal Farm

Economics Nature & the Environment

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