Food is an integral part of our survival as a species, as it is for every other organism. Therefore the food production industry is among the most important and crucial sectors of human society. The food industry is critical to our continued existence. Advances in agriculture, particularly the development of agricultural machinery in America and Europe, were instrumental in the significant growth of the human population in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Gilbert, 2005). Without these, it would have been impossible to support a few million of our population. At the moment, with the global population constantly increasing, the pressure on the food production sector to produce greater quantities of food and supply markers is enormous. Technological and scientific advances are decisive factors that enable the food production industry to succeed. These advances include the development of fertilizers to improve soil fertility, pesticides and herbicides to reduce damage to agricultural crops, genetic modification of seeds to enable better resistance to pests, as well as improvements in antibiotics and growth stimulants to the livestock. The production system had evolved similarly. In addition to becoming largely mechanized, the system's inputs and methods are also changing. The term “factory farming” has emerged as a popular metaphor for intensive methods in agriculture, particularly livestock farming in America (Lavin, 2009). In the documentary film “Food, Inc,” factory farming was identified as one of the major flaws in the American food industry system (2009). Factory farming is usually understood to refer to farms where large numbers of animals are raised in a small area, usually indoors... in the middle of paper... producing more. Technological and scientific progress will be fundamental to answering this question. But these advances must be properly considered in a way that provides a solution to our current crisis but does not produce a greater one in its place. Works Cited Gilbert, G. (ed.). (2005). World Population (2nd edition). California: ABC-CLIO Inc. Lavin, C. (2009). Farms in the consumer society. American Studies Vol. 50 (1/2): 71-92. Farm. 2014. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/factory%20farmDaniel, C.R., Cross, A.J., Koebnick, C., & Sinha, R. (2011). Meat consumption trends in the United States. Nutr. Public Health 14 (4): 575-583.Pohlad, W., Skoll, J., Schorr, R., & Weyermann, D. (producers), & Kenner, R. (director). 2009. Food, Inc. [DVD]. Los Angeles, CA: Magnolia Home Entertainment.