If you’re keeping up with the national and international news stories that affect the meat industry, you’re likely noticing the creeping intolerance for agriculture in general but especially for the meat industry. State and National governments and their unelected bureaucrats are spearheading increasingly devastating anti-meat legislative movements.

Here are just a few examples: Proposition 12 in California, followed by the recent SCOTUS ruling allowing the new law to stand, and the similar rule in Massachusetts. The Mayor of New York is rabidly anti-meat and is limiting the amount of meat served in the schools of our nation’s largest city. The USDA Dietary Guidelines Committee continues to push sugar and carbs over meat in their recommendations. In Denmark, under the premise that food production is causing too much global warming, generational farmers are being forced out of business, with record numbers of reports of suicides among destroyed farmers. The "death by a thousand cuts" is well underway against our industry.

There are too many further examples to list in a simple blog, but let’s sum up the current state of affairs by saying that animal agriculture is now in a fight for survival. I believe there’s still a window of opportunity for farmers, ranchers and all other meat industry stakeholders to counter the attack on our industry, our way of life, and our future, but we must take action now.

Like any battle, our fight will require money as well as human resources. We can’t tell our side of the story and defend what we do, launch counter offensives, and pay for the war against meat industry agriculture without fundraising. Where will the money come from?

Realistically, there’s really only one viable option that I can see working. The infrastructure is largely already in place and it would provide the needed accountability, mechanization, and buy-in from the majority of the ag producers involved.

Increase funding and add resources to the check-off programs to engage in the fight.

By design, check-off programs were founded to allow the producers of ag products to have a way of reaching the end-consumer with their story and message. They unite our voice and give us a way of communicating to the general public.

The problem is, that with inflation, the check-off dollars no longer go as far as they did when the check-offs were first put in place. Industry check-off pots are running nearly dry and need additional funding in order to really have the necessary effect on consumer attitudes and habits.

Opening up the "Act and Orders" at the national level would take too much time and be too political. Instead, states that don’t already have check-off programs need to rally and get on board with the rest of the states. Also, packers and processors should pay into the check-off. This is only fair, since their livelihood is also at stake. Milk processors and dairy producers alike both pay into a check-off, so it seems right that this should also be the model for the meat industry. Why should the packers gain all the benefits of the check-off programs, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean producers foot the entire bill alone?

I realize that check-off funds can’t be used for lobbying legislatures, but they can be used for buying advertising, educating our nation’s children in schools, as well as countering the anti-meat agenda activist propaganda and dozens of other effective outreach campaigns, many of which have been proven to work with existing check-off dollars. Check-off programs are not without their problems, and I do realize a few producers are against them, calling them a "forced tax." But all the newer state check-off programs that I’m aware of offer a refund to any producer that wants one, which means it’s not really forced. Also, when surveyed nationally, most ag producers are in wholehearted support of their respective check-off program.

Now is the time to act. We can’t sit back and watch our industry suffer setback after setback in the public arena until we’re legislated out of business by local, state and national lawmakers and career bureaucrats that know or care very little about our industry.

We didn’t pick this fight, but make no mistake, it has definitely fallen upon us. We can either coordinate an offensive while there’s still time to act, or we will suffer certain loss.

What will we do?

Our Fight for Survival

Join for free* to continue reading.