Everybody is claiming to do it. One way to make someone say it is to tell them “eating animals is bad”. Their reply will likely be, “this does not apply to me; I only buy my meat from local farms”.
So, why is local better? The spread theory is that the closer someone is to a farm, the more ethical it becomes. That’s why your local farm is better than the one 50 miles away from where you live. All farms in your country are more ethical than your neighbouring countries. And so on.
How such a phenomenon occurs is still a mystery.
What about factory farms? Following the same logic, if you live near a factory farm, it will transform into a family-owned farm. You can then purchase animal products with absolute peace of mind from that farm, knowing the animals have been treated with the best of care.
An so here you have it, this is the beauty of buying local. It just works.