It's one thing to Google the dictionary definition of exploitation, and another to actually spend time working on farms and with livestock. How can you say you understand how farming works if you haven't actually participated in it, or built an understanding of farmers' experiences by working with/talking with them?

Honestly I think the biggest misconception here is that farmers are actually profiting, or that profit should even be the goal. I have yet to meet a farmer that isn't in debt. Talking specifically about the more extreme end (ex. Tyson chicken farmers) nobody wants to be doing this. These are hard-working, well-intentioned people who got tricked into contracts and are being exploited as well. They dont want to farm like that, they are just trapped in a corrupt agricultural system, with the threat of losing their homes and going bankrupt held over their heads. Some of these people have been on their family farms for generations, its hard to understand how important it is for them to keep farming. I want to be clear that I'm not saying we should support Tyson, in fact the exact opposite is true.

Things weren't like this 200, even really 100 years ago. Industrial farming and agribusiness changed everything. Like, back in the day most families had a small flock of free range chickens, or like one or two dairy cows, and farming practices were so much more sustainable. It is possible to raise livestock without exploitation, we have just strayed so horribly far from where we came.

I'm not saying that you should eat meat, I'm saying that if you are fighting for animal rights, start with the agribusiness owners who are fucking everybody over (land, people, livestock) instead of condemning the entire idea of livestock/human relationships.