It’s that time of year again: With new legislative sessions underway in many states, we’re seeing legislation or ballot initiative campaigns targeting animal agriculture pop up across the country.

This is nothing new, as animal rights activist groups have been using legislation to push their agenda for many years now. Activist groups have been following an “incremental changes” approach, where they identify certain production practices that are used widely in animal agriculture and push for them to be banned. This allows activists to pretend to be focused on animal welfare (despite the fact that they are targeting practices that are scientifically sound and the systems they are calling for come with their own tradeoffs) while making meat, poultry, dairy and egg production more difficult and expensive, therefore increasing costs to consumers.

Initially, their playbook was to target a production practice in a state that has virtually no farms or ranches that would be impacted by the legislation. That way, the animal agriculture community was less likely to invest the considerable resources needed in fighting back. Their early victories set precedents they continue to refer to when pushing bills or ballot initiatives in other states who do have considerable animal agriculture operations.

Now, they still strategically launch campaigns in states they believe will be more favorable to their views, but the legislation they push for typically applies to all products sold within the state — so it impacts farmers and ranchers across the country, not just those in the state where the bill or ballot initiative passes. You’re probably following along with Proposition 12 in California which is the perfect example of this type of effort.

While the Animal Ag Alliance does not lobby due to our nonprofit status, we believe everyone in the animal agriculture and meat communities needs to keep a close eye on legislation that could impact all of our ability to provide consumers with safe, healthy and affordable food. That’s why we keep an interactive map updated on our website of relevant bills and ballot initiatives. Here’s a rundown of the current trends we’re seeing:

Restrictions on farms of a certain size. Bills have been introduced in Iowa, Oregon and Rhode Island that would establish moratoriums on new farms above a certain size. These bills are being called “factory farm bans” by some activist proponents.
Targeting production methods. As outlined above, we continue to see campaigns pushing to outlaw certain production practices, including housing methods. World Animal Protection has initiated a ballot initiative campaign against confinement systems in Arizona and legislation regarding cages for laying hens has been introduced in New Mexico. In Colorado, a proposed ballot initative would only allow livestock that have lived 25% of their natural lifespan to be processed as well as criminalize artificial insemination and other practices as “sexual acts with an animal.”
Elevating the legal rights of animals. A proposed bill in New Jersey would provide animals certain policy protections and considerations traditionally reserved for humans, such as the right to a court-appointed advocate in criminal cases concerning welfare or care.

I anticipate activist groups becoming more politically active than ever over the next few years, as they view the current Presidential Administration as potentially more open to their views. Keep an eye on what’s introduced at the state and federal level that could impact your business, and don’t hesitate to pass anything along to the Alliance so we can get the information out.

Animal agriculture up for debate in several state legislatures this spring

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