A presidential administration looks for ways to cement policies on their way out. And there is an opportunity in the waning days of President Trump’s term for ag to score a win and prevent future heartburn. Will the industry take it?

Animal activists have looked for any way to make it harder for animal agriculture to operate. To name just a few, they’ve passed (constitutionally questionable) laws banning the sale of pork and eggs made using conventional pens. They’ve sought local moratoriums on building large-scale operations.

Now, they’re taking a page out of activist playbooks who have targeted other industries — namely oil and gas. Activists are pressuring investment groups to avoid meat companies. And last month, one major animal activist group began a campaign demanding the city of Berkeley to “divest” from animal agriculture. Other insanities? How about the time they had Beverly Hills agree to “no fracking”!

But some of their demands can hurt. Banks that covet a strong public image can be attacked for financing animal agriculture. They demand banks to stop lending to projects and businesses they claim are not "socially responsible." Several banks dropped out of funding the Dakota Access pipeline after activist pressure.

Plant Based News reported last month on the growing global movement targeting banks. “Development banks are facing calls to stop funding factory farming, which is playing a significant role in existential crises facing humanity including the climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and antibiotic resistance.”

Activists can’t outright ban oil and gas or animal protein. But they believe they will make it difficult or impossible to do business.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which supervises banking, has proposed a rule to stop discrimination in lending. Under the rule, federally chartered banks would be prohibited from “blacklisting” industries, as activists are demanding.

Instead, lenders would have to evaluate applications on a case-by-case basis using objective metrics.

This sounds like common sense. It is. Everyone deserves fair access to lending.

But consider the direction things are heading in. Credit card companies and payment processors are being pushed to “deplatform” —that is, ban — people or organizations that are deemed politically incorrect. Activists are trying to destructively politicize the entire financial system.

And it’s not just whining activists. The federal government itself was caught targeting legal businesses in Operation Choke Point during the Obama administration. In this instance, it was the government coming after the gun industry. An American Banker article revealed, “Overwhelming evidence, in the form of more than 900 pages of newly unsealed emails and depositions, proves government officials illegally targeted lawful businesses in an ideological crusade based on personal disdain”.

There’s a reason they called it “choke point” — because if you can strangle the finances, you can kill the industry.

How can you tell this anti-discrimination lending rule is important? Because of the nasty response from opponents of animal agriculture. The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental extremist group whose cofounder has spoken of “bring[ing] industrial civilization to its knees,” filed a vitriolic response in opposition to this rule. CBD calls the rule “an insult” and calls the acting director of the agency a “partisan scumbag.”

Sounds like they’re worried.

These professionals in the aggravation industry will have influence in the Biden administration, which is being stacked with environmental activists. Why not score one for the good guys while we can?

If you want to take action, weigh in and support the rule. Comments are due by January 4. An opportunity to inoculate against a growing problem doesn’t come around every day — especially when we could be in for a rough ride the next few years.

An opportunity for ag

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