Want to stop factory farming and have more grassfed meat? Congress could do it, they just need to:
- Untangle the wicked problem of factory farming by getting to its root: the power imbalance between the companies that control the meat industry and the family farmers who do their bidding;
- Make the Big Four meat companies take responsibility for the waste, pollution and adverse health impacts of factory farming; and
- Restore mandatory and meaningful country of origin labeling to protect American beef and pork farmers from unfair competition from overseas, while expanding this protection to dairy farmers.
TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress: Stop factory farming! More grassfed meat!
Life would be a lot better if we had more grassfed meat.
The American Grassfed Association lists the reasons grassfed meat is the healthy choice for people, communities, animals and the planet:
- Grassfed and pasture-based farming restores natural ecosystems and wildlife habitat, reduces reliance on petrochemicals, improves the soil with organic matter, and reduces greenhouse gasses, especially C02.
- Research shows that grassfed meat is lean, contains a high percentage of good fats – Omega 3s and CLA — and beneficial antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.
- Small family farms provide jobs and strong economies in rural communities and create sustainable businesses for succeeding generations.
- Cattle, goats, sheep, and bison evolved to eat grass. Feeding them a diet of cereal grains creates an acidic environment in their digestive systems, and can lead to disease and the need for treatment with antibiotics.
This is the meat people want to eat. Sixty-two percent of Americans say they would prefer to eat grassfed meat.
But it’s not the meat U.S. farm policy is delivering to consumers.
The Farm Bill subsidizes corn-fed factory farms and does little to support ranchers and farmers who graze their animals from start to finish.
Every ruminant animal in America spends some of its life on grass, but approximately 95 percent of the cattle in the US are still finished or fattened on grain for the last 25 to 30 percent of their lives.
The biggest obstacle to farmers and ranchers raising 100 percent grassfed beef is the processing bottleneck caused by the stranglehold the big-four meatpackers have over the industry.
American grassfed farmers also face competition from imported beef.
The problem has been so bad that imported beef has been falsely labeled “Product of the U.S.A.” On March 11, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture finalized a rule that limits voluntary “Product of USA” or “Made in the USA” label claims to meat, poultry and egg products derived from animals that are actually born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States. The rule takes effect January 1, 2026. There is still no mandatory country of origin labeling for beef, pork or dairy.
The Farm System Reform Act would tackle these obstacles by strengthening the Packers & Stockyards Act to crack down on the monopolistic practices of meatpackers and corporate integrators, making the companies that profit from pollution pay, restoring mandatory country-of-origin labeling requirements and authorizing $100 billion over 10 years for farmers to voluntarily transition out of factory farming.
The bill would also place an immediate moratorium on new factory farms and factory farm expansion, banning them altogether by 2041.
Although this bill is a far cry from giving farmers and our communities a path towards organic and regenerative farming, it is important to make the four giant meat monopolies responsible for the environmental destruction caused by factory farms. By consolidating the responsibility for the polluting and inhumane practices to include the corporations as well as the farmers.
This provision will give regulatory agencies the ability to assign culpability for the damage that has been done and curtail the degenerative practices happening now.
TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to pass the Farm System Reform Act!