Compassion in World Farming has also condemned the plans and in 2010 said they amounted to factory farming.

BBC: Super dairy plan in Powys rejected by councillors

China's efforts are happening at the same time that the U.S. system of food production faces burgeoning backlash from critics at home who deride it as "factory farming" that contributes to less-healthful food and environmental problems.

WSJ: What China Can Learn From America's Hot Dogs

To take a small example, many quite sensible people buy organically produced meat, not because they believe in all the principles of the organic movement, or even because they think it tastes significantly better or is always more healthy, but just because they feel queasy about factory farming.

ECONOMIST: Science

Then came construction, banking and securities broking in the 1980s, followed by overseas expansion (from prawn farming in Australia to a seafood-processing factory in Alaska in the early 1990s) and, finally, financial services.

ECONOMIST: Business and politics in Taiwan

No, the point of mechanized farming is to replace 100 farm jobs with only 50 factory and dealership jobs, or maybe only 5.

FORBES: Dumb Idea: Investment Creates Jobs