Industrial factory farming threatens our health, our environment and our local economic and food security.
The handful of “Big Meat” corporations that monopolize industrial meat production are guilty of exploiting meatpacking workers, farmworkers, farmers and ranchers—and torturing billions of farm animals.
There’s a better way. We need to act now.
TAKE ACTION: Demand a moratorium on new and expanding factory farms, and support the just transition to an organic regenerative food and farming system!
Why should we ban factory farms?
We counted at least 13 Reasons—including preventing future pandemics. Here they are.
Who should lead the effort to ban factory farms?
Consumers can, and must, play a major role in ending industrial factory farms.
We can do that by boycotting industrially produced meat and animal products. And by supporting local producers of organic regenerative grass-fed and pastured meat and animal products—in stores and restaurants.
But consumers alone can’t end factory farming. Policymakers need to step up.
We must demand policies that stop subsidizing “cheap meat” and that level the playing field for independent producers of organic regenerative meat and animal products.
“Big Meat” companies sell billions of dollars worth of beef, pork and poultry and processed food products to schools, hospitals and nursing homes—where some of our most vulnerable people should be getting healthy, nutritious food, not contaminated factory farm and processed meat products.
Industrial meat producers also export billions of dollars worth of meat to China and other countries.
Let’s look at the sales of just one “Big Meat” company: Tyson. The company says that consumer sales made up about 45 percent of Tyson’s 2019 total annual sales of $42.4 billion.
That means that in 2019, Tyson sold about $23.3 billion worth of products into schools, hospitals, nursing homes and the export market.
So even if consumers stop buying their products, “Big Meat” companies will keep running their factory farms— as long as food, farming and environmental policies make it possible for industrial meat producers to offload the costs of environmental and health damages to taxpayers.
It’s time for food and farming policies that help combat global warming—not make it worse.
It’s time for food and farming policies that protect public health, not corporate profits.
It’s time for food and farming policies that protect workers, family farmers and animals.
It’s time for radical systems change, for a just transition—including fair pay and safe working conditions for all—to an organic regenerative food and farming system.
This isn’t a pie-in-the-sky ask.
Politicians, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Cory Booker and others, have proposed policy reforms that would transform the entire food and farming system over a 10-year period.
It’s up to us to demand that all of our elected officials, at all levels of government, commit to a moratorium on factory farms and to policies that will regenerate our health and ecosystems, and restore social, economic and environmental justice.
And of course, it’s time for all consumers to #BoycottBigMeat.