A new multimillion-dollar marketing campaign is being mounted by Big Ag, primarily aimed at fending off attacks by activists and small farmers who are spreading the word that “factory farming” is bad for animals and produces subpar food that causes illness.
A new group called the US Farmers and Ranchers Alliance will stage several town hall meetings in September. The meetings, which will be streamed online, are part of a multimedia effort to what the group calls myths about the agricultural industry.
According to the Financial Times:
Bob Stallman, President of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said that the industry had been unfairly vilified since films, such as Food Inc. and Farmageddon, have depicted the industry as using genetically modified seeds, pumping animals full of hormones and antibiotics to fatten them and confining them in cages with no light. He argues that activist groups want the farmers to return to the days when small family farms served local communities.
Mark Kastel, a director of The Cornucopia Institute, which supports sustainable and organic agriculture, was quoted as saying:
“I think corporate agri-business is frightened about the marketplace implications and concerned about more regulatory constraint. They are afraid that the ugly stories out there are tarnishing their reputation.”
With 50 affiliates joining forces and willing to bankroll $30 million per year on a campaign, big farming groups are hopeful that it will eliminate the bad public perception.
According to the Financial Times:
Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface, an organic farm in Virginia, called the USFRA campaign “laughable” and said that criticism of industrial farmers is justified because they view the environment as a machine rather than as something biological.
Joel Salatin's newest book, Folks This Ain't Normal, is scheduled for release this October.
How You Can Fight Back
Are you a member of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund? If you care about supporting small, sustainable farms, it's time to pony up!
We don't have all the money Big Ag does to spend $30 million per year on marketing, that's for sure. But think about it… if just 300,000 of us contribute $100 per year, that's $30 million right there.
Donate $100 to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund during their annual fundraiser and get a copy of the brand new movie, Farmageddon, or Joel Salatin's new book, Folks This Ain't Normal. Hurry — this special offer expires September 1st.
Click here to join the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund today!
Photo credit: Veal Crates by Farm Sanctuary on Flickr and Joel Salatin by FRESH: a delicious documentary on Flickr
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My jaw is literally on the floor.
This is almost worse than the “Sweet Surprise! HCFS is actually super great for you!” BS campaign. I am sick to my stomach.
*HFCS I mean. BARF.
I’m torn. The Sweet Surprise commercials are what finally pizzed me off enough to stop consuming HFCS. But. Their website just made my husband more adamant that *I’m* easily persuaded.
Good point, wordvixen. It was an anti-raw milk website (built by a “front group” that I found out was funded by Monsanto and Cargill) that convinced me to start drinking raw milk.
How did you find out who funds websites?
@JLynn
https://www.sourcewatch.org/
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Front_group
I will never be convinced that a Big-Ag farm can EVER produce the same quality as a small, local farm. It’s all about sustainability!!!
Satan is obviously alive in the world…Big Ag sucks! Food from small farmers who care about the animals, the environment, the consumer, God’s creation, etc. are so much better in a multitude of ways. Millions of dollars of campaigning aren’t going to change my mind ever!
REAL FOOD WILL ALWAYS WIN!!! GO REAL FOOD!!! :)
rather than spend their money fixing the situation they throw it onto whitewashing the sepulchre
Not surprising…But I have faith that most people, as they learn more and more, will resist the factory farms.
Curious that these are going to start not long after the super-irriating California Milk television spots showing happy calves and cows frolicking in grassy fields. Ha! They expect me to believe THAT? Good luck. Those commercials drive me up the WALL! Unfortunately…we probably have a longer way to go raw milk-wise than we do Big Ag-wise.
Thanks for the heads-up…
@Jen
Yes, the California Happy Cow campaign flew me up to Northern CA with a bunch of other bloggers to tour a conventional dairy farm.
This is the post I wrote (contrasting the conventional “happy” cows with real happy cows at Organic Pastures raw milk dairy farm: https://cheeseslave.com/2011/03/24/will-the-real-california-happy-cows-please-stand-up/
Mmm…polyface pork is delicious! Here they use it at chipotle!
I guess I’m not surprised. They have more money than they know what to do with. It makes me sick because money is the only thing they care about, not being good stewards of the earth, not treating their animals the way they were meant to be, and not caring about the health of the consumer who eats their products.
Local SMALL Scale is THOUSANDS (1000s) of miles FRESHER…………………….
No Offense to big AG…it feeds people of the world that cannot produce enough to feed their population and/or those who can produce food…but in their limited growing season………………………………
But for those of us blessed to live in Florida…
…which at its southernmost tip has 3 FULL GROWING SEASONS in a year….plus a year long season of exotic fruit…& when it’s too hot to grow anything in southernmost Florida…Jacksonville & the panhandle are in “high” (production) season….we have a bounty of fresh local food produced by small scale farmers and canners, smokers, fishermen, dairies, bakers, and more! Besides being fresh & thereby void of any necessity for “chemicals to preserve”…..the harvest from local small scale farmers & other small food producers has a very small “carbon footprint” …and rather than held up in even the most sophisticated distribution system……produce & other foods produced by local small sclae farmers, bakers, etc. are sold to the “end” consumer
……………..who likely knows the name of the farmer, baker, etc. & has possibly taken a tour of the farm, bakery, etc. Besides all the health and environmental benefits of buying local/small sclae………………all of the above benefits the local economy. The money spent at local farm stands, farmers’ markets, CSAs, etc. stays “home” …i.e. is spent at other local retail establishments. Surveys have also shown that those committed patrons of local small farms, bakers, etc. are typically the same group that supports local cultural programs and actively participate in local government affairs.
BIG Ag may see this growing phenomena as a threat……………but in truth, there is NO comparison…and therefore no competition. There is no way that BIG Ag can compete with the short time & distance it takes small scale growers to direct sell/delivering directly to the hand of the end consumer sometimes in a matter of hours!!!! In contrast, many of our small scale farmers have no interest in growing the amount which would require a distribution system, beyond the farm stand or market. Small scale farmers can’t or won’t produce the volume of any one crop to necessitate the sophisticated system of BIG Ag! The general population has been sufficiently frightened and educated about their food….the origin, means of production, harvest, distribution, etc. to have driven the current trend toward “local/small scale”. There is no turning back…………..the demand is greater than the supply and only true small scale sustainable farmers will satisfy that demand. Well informed patrons will still shop the “super” markets….for what is not or cannot be produced locally by small scale farmers & other small food producers. What Do You Eat? & Where Do You Get It? 561-756-3600
This is such bull shit. Thanks for posting this Ann Marie! But, this is such bull shit.
I am so sick of people caring about one thing… MONEY! Why not care about the health of the world too?!
Damnit… this sucks but it only motivates a young man who hasn’t even been on earth for 24 years!
Todd — I’m so glad you are on this earth, doing what you do!
Maybe some good will come out of this. I didn’t know there was any controversy over HFCS before they started running their ad campaign. I looked into it and made my choice to eliminate it from my diet. Well, not eliminate….but greatly greatly reduce. I don’t throw things away lightly, lol.
For my part, any campaigning they do isn’t going to make me think it’s all ok. Unfortunately due to budget constraints we still have to buy some industrial chicken but eventually I hope to eliminate that as well.