Factory farms, or CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations), cram thousands of animals into confined spaces, producing sewage on the scale of a small city. This waste isn’t just manure — it’s loaded with E. coli, chemicals, and other hazards, and is often dumped untreated. Spread on fields, it seeps into groundwater or runs off into streams, carrying nitrogen and phosphorus. These pollutants fuel toxic algal blooms that kill fish, create “dead zones,” and poison drinking water. Far from family farming, factory farms are industrial operations with dangerous impacts on people and nature.