TheScoop.com reports:
The pork community is in the crosshairs right now for the animal rights extremist community, says Hannah Thompson-Weeman, president and CEO of the Animal Agriculture Alliance.
“They’re feeling buoyed by Proposition 12 being upheld last year,” Thompson-Weeman says. “And that’s led to a wave of similar legislation in other states and even things coming up all the way down to the city level. In addition to that, we’re seeing a lot of continued farm and plant activism.”
Some extremists are using false pretenses to get hired and capture footage that they can use in campaigns to damage the reputation of the industry. Some are even going in and taking animals, stealing piglets in some instances, that they claim is a rescue, she adds.
Several cases have gone to trial for those incidents recently. The results have been a mixed bag, Thompson-Weeman says. In some cases, they’ve been able to make a very emotional argument to a jury and be found not guilty even though they admit they went into a farm without permission and took animals without permission.
In one of those trials toward the end of last year, the co-founder of an extreme animal rights organization was found guilty. In the wake of that conviction, they released a 149-page investigation manual, encouraging other extremists to use drones, cameras, and any other way to try to get unauthorized access to farms, she says.
“It’s an incredible challenge, not only reputationally, but also when it comes to animal diseases and biosecurity, thinking about people without permission going from premise to premise,” Thompson-Weeman says. “Unfortunately, it really is a major challenge for the pork community right now.”
She says animal rights extremist organizations that didn’t previously play much in the legislative space are latching on to that as a tactic, all the way down to city-level resolutions.
“They see it as a way to get the ball rolling and set a precedent for taking those ideas all the way up to the state and ultimately, federal level,” Thompson-Weeman says.
For example, citizen-led initiatives in the city of Berkeley are trying to ban farms and processing plants in the city.
“Now is that going to have a big impact? Probably not,” she says. “There’s not a lot of production agriculture in a city like Berkeley, but they’re also taking a similar initiative to the county level in Sonoma County, Calif., which is a major agricultural county.”
At an activist conference a few years ago, someone said, “You can change the world starting with a local ordinance.”
“They see it as a way to set a precedent and get the ball rolling, especially going to places that don’t have a lot of agriculture and uninformed electorate and local officials,” Thompson-Weeman explains. “If they can get a growing list of cities and municipalities to pass these type of regulations, even if not a lot of production is actually impacted, they can then take that to the state level and push for something that would have a big impact on animal agriculture.”
What Can We Do?
Everyone in the animal agriculture community, whether you are a farmer or rancher or a part of allied industry, or part of an association, or just someone who cares about food choice and having meat, poultry, dairy, seafood and eggs available to you, has a role to play in addressing these issues. She says it starts on the farm with being proactive and making sure that practices are beyond reproach when it comes to things like animal welfare and sustainability.
In the pork industry, following programs like PQA, We Care, and making sure to live those things out each day demonstrate commitment to animal welfare and being responsible stewards of the land and good neighbors in our communities.
“It’s doing the right thing, day in day out, no matter who’s watching,” Thompson-Weeman says.
Of course, producers can do all those things and still find themselves the target of an organization that simply doesn’t believe there’s any way to ethically and responsibly raise animals for food, no matter how well it’s done.
“Take security measures to make yourselves a harder target. Things like lighting, cameras, gates, locks, fencing, no trespassing signage, biosecurity signage procedures for checking in and out of the property, are just a few ways to make yourself and your livelihood a little bit more protected from these organizations,” she adds.
Don’t forget you have a role to play in the consumer conversation, Thompson-Weeman points out.
“Making sure we’re being loud, proud voices to set the record straight and correct the narrative about animal welfare, sustainability and responsible antibiotic use,” she says. “If we’re not there putting a face on animal agriculture and sharing our story, those negative voices are going to be what people hear. We all have a role to play both in our livelihoods and facilities, and then having conversations about these important topics.”
