Among many media reports following the recent elections in the United States, this one sums up the threat all livestock producers need to take seriously. Sponsors of a California ballot initiative that sets new welfare standards for livestock are pledging to push those changes nationwide.
That’s just what worried livestock interests across the U.S. They contributed millions to a campaign to defeat the measure, which would effectively ban the use of sow stalls and hen cages. The measure won’t take effect until 2015, and it’s not clear how quickly and widely those standards could be adopted nationwide, industry officials say.
California is the sixth largest egg producer and if farms there shrink, others will have to pick up the slack.
Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, which spent more than $4 million on the campaign for the California measure, predicted the passage of Proposition 2 would usher in a new era in farm standards.
Jim Long, hog commentator and President of Genesus Genetics of Oakville, said the voters of California said the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) was a prominent proponent of this initiative.
“The HSUS from our viewpoint is not really interested in changing the production techniques of our livestock or poultry productions,” said Long. “Their main goal is to create a meatless society.”
He said HSUS is shrewd. They pick the production techniques that agriculture has difficulty defending. The HSUS are experts at raising money with emotional issues while slickly involving media-types like Oprah as a vehicle for their message.
“We are overmatched,” said Long. “The HSUS attacks livestock producers all out. We negotiate. Try to appease. Rationalize. It’s a useless strategy.”
The HSUS knows in some ways we have the power. U.S. consumers love meat. They eat more than they ever did. Consumers vote everyday when they buy meat. The HSUS comes at us to separate the cultural and historical fact that we are at the top of the food chain with an emotional spin.
“We need to stop appeasing, get together and not be taken off our game. It’s the only way; otherwise they will continue to come at us, cherry-picking each issue one at a time. They are our enemy. They want to take away our livelihood and business. We have to be engaged,” said the hog commentator.
