Farming General Agribusiness · Agriculture Agricultural science · Agronomy Animal husbandry Challenges of industrial farming Factory farming · Free range Extensive farming History of agriculture Industrial agriculture Industrial agriculture (animals) Industrial agriculture (crops) Intensive farming · Organic farming Sustainable agriculture Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). ... In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in the food production chain, including farming, seed, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesaling, processing, distribution, and retail sales. ... Agricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic, and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. ... Agronomy is a branch of agricultural science that deals with the study of crops and the soils in which they grow. ... Shepherd with his sheep in FăgăraÅŸ Mountains, Romania. ... Beef cattle on a feedlot in the Texas Panhandle Factory farming is a term used to describe a set of controversial practices in large-scale, intensive agriculture. ... Free range is a method of farming husbandry where the animals are permitted to roam freely instead of being contained in small sheds. ... The small pig farm in Swiss mountains. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... These female brood sows are confined most of their lives in gestation crates too small to enable them to turn around. ... Intensive Farming Intensive agriculture is an agricultural production system characterized by the high inputs as relative to land area (as opposed to extensive farming). ... Organic cultivation of mixed vegetables in Capay, California. ... Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming communities. ... Particular Aquaculture Dairy farming IMTA Intensive pig farming Poultry farming Sheep husbandry Workers harvest catfish from the Delta Pride Catfish farms in Mississippi Aquaculture is the cultivation of the natural produce of water (fish, shellfish, algae and other aquatic organisms). ... Dairy farming is a class of agricultural, or more properly, an animal husbandry enterprise, raising female cattle, goats, or other lactating animals for long-term production of milk, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy for processing and eventual retail sale. ... These female brood sows are confined most of their lives in gestation crates too small to enable them to turn around. ... Australian Sheep Sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. ... Issues Animal rights · Animal welfare Antibiotics Battery cage · BSE Foie gras Genetically modified food Gestation crate · Growth hormone Pesticide · Veal crates A civet, or sea fox, photographed in the Zigong Peoples Zoo, Sichuan, 2001. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... An antibiotic is a drug that kills or slows the growth of bacteria. ... Battery Cage is an American electronic music project led by Tyler Newman. ... Classic image of cattle with BSE. Frantic digging going nowhere. ... Pâté de foie gras (right) with pickled pear. ... Genetically Modified (GM) foods are produced from genetically modified organisms (GMO) which have had their genome altered through genetic engineering techniques. ... Growth hormone (GH or somatotropin) is a 191-amino acid, single chain polypeptide hormone which is synthesised, stored and secreted by the somatotroph cells within the lateral wings of the anterior pituitary gland, which stimulates growth and cell reproduction in humans and other animals. ... A cropduster spreading pesticide. ... Veal is a culinary term for meat produced from calves. ... Largest farming corporations Bernard Matthews Cargill ContiGroup Companies Maple Leaf Foods Monsanto Philip Morris Premium Standard Farms Smithfield Foods Tyson Foods Wayne Farms Bernard Matthews is a food processing company headquartered in Norwich, Norfolk, with 57 farms throughout Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire [1]. They produce and market turkey and other meat products, oven-ready turkeys, day-old turkeys, fish products and other poultry products. ... Cargill, Incorporated is a privately held, multinational corporation, and is based in the state of Minnesota in the United States. ... Formed in 1813, ContiGroup Companies, Inc (CGC) was originally founded by Simon Fribourg in Arlon, Belgium as a grain-trading firm. ... Maple Leaf Foods TSX: MFI is a major Canadian food processing company. ... The Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) is a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. ... Altria Group, Inc. ... Formed in 1988, Premium Standard Farms, Inc (PSF) (NASDAQ: PORK) was founded with the aim of creating a standardized method for which to produce premium pork. ... Smithfield Packing Company was founded in 1936 by Joseph W. Luter and his son Joseph W. Luter, Jr. ... Tyson Foods, Inc. ... Categories Agriculture by country Agriculture companies Agriculture companies, U.S. Biotechnology Farming history Livestock Meat processing Poultry farming

The challenges and issues of industrial agriculture for global and local society, for the industrial agriculture industy, and for the individual industrial agriculture farm include the costs and benefits of both current practices and proposed changes to those practices.

While the point of industrial agriculture is lower cost products to create greater productivity thus a higher standard of living as measured by available goods and services, industrial methods have side effects both good and bad. Further, industrial agriculture is not some single indivisible thing, but instead is comprised of numerous separate elements, each of which can be modified, and in fact is modified in response to market conditions, government regulation, and scientific advances. So the question then becomes for each specific element that goes into an industrial agriculture method or technique or process: What bad side effects are bad enough that the financial gain and good side effects are outweighed? Different interest groups not only reach different conclusions on this, but also recommend differing solutions, which then become factors in changing both market conditions and government regulations.^[1][2][3] These female brood sows are confined most of their lives in gestation crates too small to enable them to turn around. ...

Society

The major challenges and issues faced by society concerning industrial agriculture include:

Maximizing the benefits:

• Cheap and plentiful food
• Convenience for the consumer
• The contribution to our economy on many levels, from growers to harvesters to processors to sellers

while minimizing the downsides:

• Environmental and social costs
• Damage to fisheries
• Cleanup of surface and groundwater polluted with animal waste
• Increased health risks from pesticides
• Increased ozone pollution and global warming from heavy use of fossil fuels^[3]

Industrial agriculture industry

According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, the major challenges and issues faced by the industrial agriculture industry are:

• marketing challenges and consumer tastes
• international trading environment (world market conditions, barriers to trade, quarantine and technical barriers, maintenance of global competitiveness and market image, and management of biosecurity issues affecting imports and the disease status of exports)
• biosecurity (pests and diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), avian influenza, foot and mouth disease, citrus canker, and sugar smut)
• infrastructure (such as transport, ports, telecommunications, energy and irrigation facilities)
• management skills and labor supply (With increasing requirements for business planning, enhanced market awareness, the use of modern technology such as computers and global positioning systems and better agronomic management, modern farm managers will need to become increasingly skilled. Examples: training of skilled workers, the development of labor hire systems that provide continuity of work in industries with strong seasonal peaks, modern communication tools, investigating market opportunities, researching customer requirements, business planning including financial management, researching the latest farming techniques, risk management skills)
• coordination (a more consistent national strategic agenda for agricultural research and development; more active involvement of research investors in collaboration with research providers developing programs of work; greater coordination of research activities across industries, research organisations and issues; and investment in human capital to ensure a skilled pool of research personnel in the future.)
• technology (research, adoption, productivity, genetically modified (GM) crops, investments)
• water (access rights, water trade, providing water for environmental outcomes, assignment of risk in response to reallocation of water from consumptive to environmental use, accounting for the sourcing and allocation of water)
• resource access issues (management of native vegetation, the protection and enhancement of biodiversity, sustainability of productive agricultural resources, landholder responsibilities)^[1]

Classic image of cattle with BSE. Frantic digging going nowhere. ... Avian influenza (also known as bird flu, avian flu, influenzavirus A flu, type A flu, or genus A flu) is a flu (influenza) due to a type of influenza virus that is hosted by birds, but may infect several species of mammals. ... Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), sometimes called hoof-and-mouth disease, is a highly contagious but non-fatal viral disease of cattle and pigs. ... Binomial name Xanthomonas axonopodis (Hasse, 1915) Synonyms Citrus canker is a disease affecting citrus species that is caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas axonopodis. ...

Individual industrial agriculture farm

Major challenges and issues faced by individual industrial agriculture farms include:

• integrated farming systems
• crop sequencing
• water use efficiency
• nutrient audits
• herbicide resistance
• financial instruments (such as futures and options)
• collect and understand own farm information;
• knowing your products
• knowing your markets
• knowing your customers
• satisfying customer needs
• securing an acceptable profit margin
• cost of servicing debt;
• ability to earn and access off-farm income;
• management of machinery and stewardship investments.^[2]

Crops

See also: Industrial agriculture (crops)

Features

• large scale — hundreds or thousands of acres of a single crop (much more than can be absorbed into the local or regional market);
• monoculture — large areas of a single crop, often raised from year to year on the same land, or with little crop rotation;
• agrichemicals — reliance on imported, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to provide nutrients and to mitigate pests and diseases, these applied on a regular schedule; the use of fertilizer recycled from toxic waste and other hazardous industrial byproducts is common in the US.^[4]
• hybrid seed — use of specialized hybrids designed to favor large scale distribution (e.g. ability to ripen off the vine, to withstand shipping and handling);
• genetically engineered crops — use of genetically modified varieties (GMOs) designed for large scale production (e.g. ability to withstand selected herbicides);
• large scale irrigation — heavy water use, and in some cases, growing of crops in otherwise unsuitable regions by extreme use of water (e.g. rice paddies on arid land).
• high mechanization

Satellite image of circular crop fields in Haskell County, Kansas in late June 2001. ... Toxic waste is waste material, often in chemical form, that can cause death or injury to living creatures. ... A by-product is a secondary or incidental product deriving from a manufacturing process or chemical reaction, and is not the primary product or service being produced. ... A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques generally known as recombinant DNA technology. ... A rice paddy in Japan A paddy field is a flooded parcel of farmland for growing rice (from the Malaysian word padi, a noun meaning growing rice). Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice-growing countries of East and Southeast Asia, such as China, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia...

Criticism

Critics of intensively farmed crops cite a wide range of concerns. On the food quality front, it is held by critics that quality is reduced when crops are bred and grown primarily for cosmetic and shipping characteristics. Environmentally, factory farming of crops is claimed to be responsible for loss of biodiversity, degradation of soil quality, soil erosion, food toxicity (pesticide residues) and pollution (through agrichemical build-ups and runoff, and use of fossil fuels for agrichemical manufacture and for farm machinery and long-distance distribution). Rainforests are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth Biodiversity is the variation of taxonomic life forms within a given ecosystem, biome or for the entire Earth. ... Run-off or runoff may refer to one of the following. ... Agricultural machinery is one of the most revolutionary and impactful applications of modern technology. ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Distribution is one of the four aspects of marketing. ...

Animals

See also: Industrial agriculture (animals)

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) (Factory farm)

See also: Factory farming

According to George Schedier in Social Theory and Practice: Beef cattle on a feedlot in the Texas Panhandle Factory farming is a term used to describe a set of controversial practices in large-scale, intensive agriculture. ...

"Factory farms" refers to those plants where large numbers of animals, who live a miserable and even terrified existence, are raised in confined spaces for purposes of minimizing the costs of meat production.^[5]

According to Mark Floegel in the Multinational Monitor:

[C]onfined animal feeding operations [are] also known as factory farms, in the United States (U.S.). ^[6]

According to Tanya Tolchin in the Multinational Monitor:

Rather than being controlled by individuals who generally live on the premises, livestock factories are controlled by corporate entities which often hire outside workforces or use family farmers as "franchises" or contractors to produce their pigs and chickens. On the giant factory farms, the corporate entity owns the farm animals; the contractors raise the animals and provide the buildings. The corporation pays the contractors on a per-head basis. The poultry industry pioneered the factory farm approach more than 25 years ago. In the early 1980s, factory hog operations emerged in the Southeast and parts of the Midwest. Now they are spreading like a prairie fire across the U.S. heartland. In the last 15 years, the number of hog farms has dropped from 600,000 to 157,000 while the number of hogs raised in the United States has remained constant.^[7]

According to the Wisconsin Stewardship Network :

Definition: A Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) or factory farm or large farming operation is defined by federal and state statute as a facility that contains 1,000 animal units. The calculation of animal units varies by type of animal. For dairy cattle, a facility that contains 700 milking and dry cows is considered a CAFO.^[8]

Supporting view

Dairy cattle on an industrial farm.[2]

Proponents say that large-scale intensive farming is a useful and proven agricultural advance. The argued benefits include: This does not cite any references or sources. ...

• Low cost — Intensive agriculture tends to produce food that can be sold at lower cost to consumers.
• Efficiency — Animals in confinement can be supervised more closely than free-ranging animals, and diseased animals can be treated faster. Further, more efficient production of meat, milk, or eggs results in a need for fewer animals to be raised, thereby limiting the impact of agriculture on the environment.
• Economic contribution — The high input costs of agricultural operations result in a large influx and distribution of capital to a rural area from distant buyers rather than simply recirculating existing capital. A single dairy cow contributes over $1300 US to a local rural economy each year, each beef cow over $800, meat turkey $14, and so on. As Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff states, “Research estimates that the annual economic impact per cow is $13,737. In addition, each $1 million increase in PA milk sales creates 23 new jobs. This tells us that dairy farms are good for Pennsylvania's economy.” ^[9]
• Industry is responsible and self-regulating — Organizations representing factory farm operators claim to be proactive and self-policing when it comes to improving practices according to the latest food safety and environmental findings.
• Food safety — Reducing number and diversity of agricultural production facilities results in easier management. Smaller facility numbers permit easier government oversight and regulation of food quality. Processing foodstuffs through centralized mediums leads to standardization, which protects general food safety, removing unsafe rogue elements.
• Animal health — Larger farms have greater resources and abilities to maintain a high level of animal health. Larger farms can make use of expert veterinarians, while smaller non-industrial farms are limited to farmer's ability to care for his livestock. Under certain definitions of industrial agriculture, industrial agriculture also permits the use of antibiotics to prevent and treat diseases, while non-industrial agriculture, to minimize cost and meet certain other goals, often will not prevent or treat bacterial diseases but will instead hope illness clears up without intervention.
• Pollution control — Large farms can maintain and operate sophisticated systems to control waste products. Smaller farms are unable to maintain the same standards of pollution control. By consolidating waste products, farmers can efficiently manage waste.

Proponents also dispute the food borne illness argument. They note the fact that E. coli grows naturally in most mammals, including humans, and that only a few strains of E. coli are potentially hazardous to humans. They also note that diseases naturally occur among chickens and other animals. Properly cooking food can effectively remove risk factors by killing bacteria. Proponents argue that there is widespread demand for a cheap, reliable source of meat. E. coli redirects here. ...

Opposing view

These sows are confined most of their lives in 2 ft by 7 ft gestation crates.^[10][11] Pork producers and many veterinarians say that sows are prone to fighting if housed together in pens. The largest pork producer in the U.S. said in January 2007 that it will phase out gestation crates from its 187 pig nurseries over the next ten years, because of concerns from its customers, including McDonalds.^[11] They are also being phased out in the European Union, with a ban effective in 2013 after the fourth week of pregnancy.^[12]

Opponents say that what they refer to as factory farming is cruel,^[13][14][15] that it poses health risks, and that it causes environmental damage. Image File history File links Gestcrate01. ... Image File history File links Gestcrate01. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. ... McDonalds Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the worlds largest chain of fast-food restaurants [1]. Although McDonalds did not invent the hamburger or fast food, its name has become nearly synonymous with both. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

In 2003, a Worldwatch Institute publication stated that "factory farming methods are creating a web of food safety, animal welfare, and environmental problems around the world, as large agribusinesses attempt to escape tighter environmental restrictions in the European Union and the U.S. by moving their animal production operations to less developed countries." ^[16] The Worldwatch Institute is an environmental research organisation in the United States. ...

Arguments include:

• Other diseases — Overpopulation may lead to disease. In natural environments, animals are seldom crowded into as high a population density. Disease spreads rapidly in densely populated areas. Animals raised on antibiotics are breeding antibiotic resistant strains of various bacteria ("superbugs").^[17] Use of animal vaccines can create new viruses that kill people and cause flu pandemic threats. H5N1 is an example of where this might have already occurred.^[18]

• Air and water pollution — Large quantities and concentrations of waste are produced.^[19] Lakes, rivers, and groundwater are at risk when animal waste is improperly recycled. Pollutant gases are also emitted. Contaminants such as dust or foul smells can pollute air.
• Ethics — Cruelty to animals: Crowding, drugging, and performing surgery on animals. Chicks are debeaked hours after hatching, commonly by slicing off the beak. Confining hens and pigs in barren environments leads to physical problems such as osteoporosis and joint pain, and also boredom and frustration, as shown by repetitive or self-destructive actions known as stereotypes.^[20]
• Resource overuse — Concentrated populations of animals require a commensurately large amount of water and are depleting water resources in some areas.^{[citation needed]}
• Tracking — With the intensive farming system it is difficult to track the source of food, let alone food borne disease, back to particular animals. Sometimes food purchased on one side of the country may have been produced on the other side. Hamburger meat may contain the meat of as many as 1000 cows.^[21] This causes concern among consumers concerning the origin of foods and among government officials concerning the origin of disease. The National Animal Identification System is one proposed way the USDA is attempting to remedy this problem. With "traditional" farming techniques this problem is eliminated because the consumer can buy directly from the producer. ^[22][23]This can lead to other problems, however, as food purchased directly from farmers does not have to be processed according to industrial standards and undergoes no official quality evaluation.

Map of countries by population density (See List of countries by population density. ... The term disease refers to an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs function. ... Antibiotic resistance is the ability of a microorganism to withstand the effects of an antibiotic. ... Phyla/Divisions Actinobacteria Aquificae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chlamydiae/Verrucomicrobia Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Nitrospirae Omnibacteria Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Bacteria (singular, bacterium) are a major group of living organisms. ... An influenza pandemic is a large scale epidemic of the influenza virus, such as the 1918 Spanish flu. ... Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, also known as A(H5N1) or simply H5N1, is a subtype of the Influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species. ... A man-made lake in Keukenhof, Netherlands A lake is a body of water or other liquid of considerable size contained on a body of land. ... This bridge across the Danube River links Hungary with Slovakia. ... Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of geologic formations. ... The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ... Debeaking, also known as beak trimming, is a process by which parts of the beak of a chicken are removed. ... Osteoporosis is a disease of bone in which the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced, bone microarchitecture is disrupted, and the amount and variety of non-collagenous proteins in bone is altered. ... Impact from a water drop causes an upward rebound jet surrounded by circular capillary waves. ... Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful to humans. ... The National Animal Identification System, otherwise known as NAIS, is a government-run program in the United States intended to permit improved animal health surveillance by identifying and tracking specific animals. ...

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Industrial agriculture

• Agribusiness
• Animal welfare
• Bernard Matthews
• Concentrated animal feeding operation
• ConAgra Foods
• Environmental vegetarianism
• Extensive farming
• Feedlot
• Intensive farming
• Intensive pig farming
• List of United States foodborne illness outbreaks
• Maple Leaf Foods
• Organic farming
• Permaculture
• Smithfield Foods
• Sustainable agriculture
• System of Rice Intensification
• Tyson Foods

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in the food production chain, including farming, seed, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesaling, processing, distribution, and retail sales. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Bernard Matthews is a food processing company headquartered in Norwich, Norfolk, with 57 farms throughout Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire [1]. They produce and market turkey and other meat products, oven-ready turkeys, day-old turkeys, fish products and other poultry products. ... In agriculture, a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) is a farm that raises livestock and seeks to maximize production by making highly efficient use of space and other resources. ... ConAgra Foods, Inc. ... Environmental vegetarianism is the practice of vegetarianism based on the belief that the production of meat by intensive agriculture is environmentally unsustainable. ... The small pig farm in Swiss mountains. ... Beef cattle on a feedlot in the Texas Panhandle A feedlot or feedyard is a type of concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) which is used for fattening livestock, notably beefcattle, prior to slaughter. ... Intensive Farming Intensive agriculture is an agricultural production system characterized by the high inputs as relative to land area (as opposed to extensive farming). ... These female brood sows are confined most of their lives in gestation crates too small to enable them to turn around. ... Maple Leaf Foods TSX: MFI is a major Canadian food processing company. ... Organic cultivation of mixed vegetables in Capay, California. ... Permaculture Mandala summarising the ethics and principles of permaculture design. ... Smithfield Packing Company was founded in 1936 by Joseph W. Luter and his son Joseph W. Luter, Jr. ... Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming communities. ... The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a method of increasing the yield of rice produced in farming. ... Tyson Foods, Inc. ...

Sources and notes

CDC is an abbreviation which can mean any of the following: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Communicable Disease Control Community of Democratic Choice, a group of nine Eastern-European states Change data capture, in data warehousing Clock Domain Crossing, or simply clock-crossing in computing Cedar City Regional Airport... Robert G. (Rob) Webster (born May 7, 1932), in Balclutha New Zealand, leading avian influenza expert, is the virologist who in 1957 was the first to announce a link between human flu and bird flu. ... Robert G. (Rob) Webster (born May 7, 1932), in Balclutha New Zealand, leading avian influenza expert, is the virologist who in 1957 was the first to announce a link between human flu and bird flu. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 150th day of the year (151st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

Government regulation

• Brief History of CAFO Regulations - from the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture

Commissions assessing industrial agriculture

• National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, Independent commission studying the effects of intensive animal production

Proponent, neutral, and industry-related

• Journal of Extension, article on case studies of the impact of large scale agriculture
• US Farm Bureau, Farm and Ranchers association
• Coalition to Support Iowa Farmers
• Dairy Today magazine
• USDA food safety
• Purdue University food science extension

Criticism of factory farming

• Anti-agricultural FAQs on Factory Farming
• Fatal Harvest - The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
• Ask For Change resources for consumers
• A critique of factory farming
• FactoryFarming.com
• Cruelty to Animals: Mechanized Madness - Article with links to photos and videos of factory farming
• foie gras production - Video of Foie Gras production
• Husbandry Institute Promoting sustainable, responsible, and ethical animal husbandry
• Information about factory farming from The Humane Society of the United States
• Inside the California Egg Industry: An Undercover Investigation - Video of hens in battery cages at various intensive egg farming facilities. (2/4/06)
• The Meatrix - a parody of The Matrix
• The Meatrix 2: Revolting - the second installment of the Meatrix parodying The Matrix
• Meet Your Meat - a PETA-produced factory farm tour narrated by Alec Baldwin
• Factory Farms Blamed for Spread of Bird Flu
• See inside an egg factory farm
• See inside a chicken factory farm
• One of PA's largest egg farms charged with animal cruelty
• TorturedbyTyson.com - Undercover investigation of a Tyson Foods processing plant