There are so many important topics in the world today in desperate need of solutions that deserve the time and attention of the meat industry and animal agriculture. Unfortunately, animal rights activists and organizations continue taking up much of the animal agriculture community’s time and energy with almost constant protests, trespassing on private property, social media posts and articles falsely linking meat consumption to being exposed to COVID-19, animal theft … the list goes on. It’s frustrating to think of what the meat industry executives, law enforcement officers, legislators, animal agriculture leaders and others could be accomplishing right now if they did not have to invest their time in responding to constant activist attacks on animal agriculture for simply existing.

This isn’t surprising, considering it is the goal of activism — persistently badgering people and companies until they feel like they have to give in to demands (“pressure campaigns” for “incremental changes,” in activist terms) and animal rights groups have seemingly endless budgets and time to commit to it. Unfortunately for them, animal agriculture and the meat production community are just as passionate about continuing to produce safe, affordable, nutritious and delicious food for a growing and hungry world as activists are about stopping them (even if we aren’t willing to break the law and harass families in their private homes to accomplish our goals).

And, we have the vast majority of consumers who want to continue purchasing meat, poultry, dairy and eggs on our side.

As I wrote about in my last blog, the latest tactic to get attention from both our industry and activists is the interactive map created by Direct Action Everywhere (despite their repeated attempts to distance the map from DXE, the map’s creators have deep DXE roots and much of the content within the forum connected to the map revolves around DXE’s past “investigations” and protests). Criticisms of the map have reached its creators who are responding by saying it is about targeting the “system, not individuals,” despite the thousands of individuals whose homes are displayed on the map along with their farm. And we’ve heard from many who are quite concerned about their grandparents who live in the farm house having to deal with trespassers.

Creators have also claimed the map does not encourage illegal activity; interesting, when there is an “investigation tips” resource that literally shows a photo of activists trespassing in a barn and says “be careful walking in the dark because terrain can be uneven in these kinds of areas and there are shit lagoons you could fall into.” I’m not sure how that would be a concern without trespassing.

I know it is incredibly disheartening to have your efforts to make meat and poultry available to consumers who wish to buy them (especially over the past few months as that has been more challenging than perhaps ever before) met with endless criticism from groups who don’t support consumer choice. While the tiny percentage of extremists may be what you hear the loudest, most families couldn’t imagine their lives without you and show how much they value your work each time they go to the grocery store.

The Alliance team thanks you and each employee of your company for your efforts and will continue doing all we can to shield the industry from the blows of misinformation coming from all directions.

Activists relentless in disrupting food supply, but they don’t speak for most consumers

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