The next time somebody tells you how industrial factory farming is a critical part of the economy—all those jobs, right?—you can point them to a new study that says otherwise.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have determined that U.S. farms cost the economy more in health and environmental damage than they contribute to the economy.

According to an article in Forbes, the study focuses on particulate pollution, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says is the cause of 90 percent of the 100,000 premature deaths attributed every year to air pollution. 

Among industrial factory farms, poultry farms (like the one Costco is building in Nebraska) are the biggest offenders. 

The study adds to the litany of reasons to end factory farming—and that’s without even including the health costs associated with eating factory farm meat, or the economic costs of other forms of pollution, such as greenhouse gas emissions and their impact on the climate.

Read ‘Animal Agriculture Costs More in Health Damage Than It Contributes to the Economy’

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