From the video, these are some of the important areas of concern where the laws need strengthening:

1. Environmental concerns: Massive manure lagoons pose threats not only to surface waters (rivers, tributaries, etc.) but also to groundwater supplies that are often ignored under current laws. For example, federal laws (largely) allow for the unregulated discharge of farm wastes.
2. Address federal “Right To Farm Laws” that impede the ability of local communities, and even small farmers to restrict the operations of nearby factory farms when their actions cause harm to them, and their community.
3. Property Tax reforms: Allow for the reduction of local property tax whose value declines due to their proximity to large factory farms.
4. Food Labeling Standards: Like the organic label, require strict standards for terms, such as, “cruelty free” and “pasture raised,” so that consumers know what they are really buying.
5. Regulate large amounts of animal waste by treating it in a similar way we treat human sewage.
6. Antibiotics contamination from animal waste, and meat consumption that is cause antibiotic resistance in human diseases.
7. Reexamine the dual role of government to regulate the agriculture industry, and at the same time, being charged with also promoting it.
8. Address one size fits all regulations that treat a small farm operation in the same manner as a large farm.
9. Address systemic problems that are posed by factory farms even if climate damaging methane gas emissions, can be converted into otherwise beneficial energy production.

Filmed at the Friends of Family Farmers event on November 9th, 2010.

Editorial

In this Friends of Family Farmer’s sponsored talk, Kathy Hessler, Director of the Animal Law Clinic at Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland (Oregon), discusses the important subject of factory farms in relation to animal welfare protections under existing federal and state laws.

In a nutshell, livestock in America do not enjoy any protections under the law; they enjoy the same rights as a personal kitchen toaster. There are no federal laws, including federal and state animal anti-cruelty laws, that apply to farm animals. One small exception applies to the transportation of livestock (poultry is exempted from this law) that requires certain conditions be met after 28 hours of continuous transport, but these are quite limited in scope.

In perhaps a time gone past, before factory farms existed, before the introduction of mega-farms, manure lagoons, and indoor warehousing of chickens, pigs, turkeys, and other livestock— before the advent of antibiotics, and vitamin D that made factory farms (large CAFO’s) even possible, (the laws of) nature would not allow a farmer to mistreat his animals; it would have directly harmed their economic interests to do so.

While many farmers do not abuse their animals today, for a number of good reasons, including moral and economic concerns, the absence of legal animal welfare protections have served to support a small segment of the agriculture sector, the large factory farm, effecting a disproportionally large number of animals.

When one looks at the pictures of livestock housed under factory farm conditions, as in Dan Imhoff’s anthology book, CAFO, these images depict the brutality, and obvious torturous conditions of their care. It should be noted, in some states, there are efforts underway to make it a felony to film any farm operation clandestinely, and in Florida (unbelievably), one senator unsuccessfully tried to make it a first degree felony to openly film any farm without first obtaining written permission of the farm. Under Florida law, that would have meant up to 30 years in prison, and obviously would have been a serious deterrent for shining light on continuing livestock and environmental abuses.

Large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations are the Maginot Line in the agricultural sand—in a civilized society, there can be no reasonable justification for their existence.

In part 2, Dan Imhoff continues his talk about CAFO’s to a Friends of Family Farmers audience concerned about the health and wellbeing of their communities, and who support the creation of more sustainable, and environmentally healthy alternatives from that of our heavily industrialized, food system.

Much of Imhoff’s talk centers around ideas that are found in his newly published book, CAFO— a collection of thought provoking essays and gut wrenching images that depict the world of factory farm livestock: cattle, dairy cows, hogs, chickens, and turkeys.

Per the federal EPA designation of a large CAFO operation (from the CAFO book), their individual confinement numbers alone are shocking—defined as being more than any one of the following: 1000 head of cattle; 2500 swine (weighing over 55 lbs); 10,000 swine (under 55 lbs); 55,000 turkeys; 82,000 chickens (laying hens); or 20,000-30,000 meat chickens (broilers), housed under one roof.

As the book explains, the primary purpose of a CAFO is to feed livestock, and prepare them as quickly, and inexpensively as possible for slaughter. Maximum efficiency and minimizing costs are the basis for how the animals are fed, housed, and cared-for in these types of operations. The images contained in this coffee-table size book may only begin to convey the true horror of their living conditions. Pigs crammed so tightly together, their fecal waste falls through metal grates upon which they stand throughout the day and night; chickens housed together in a sea of other chickens, warehoused together under one roof, their bodies caked with feces. Nothing about these images suggest a “farm”, there is also nothing in these images that suggests the faintest hints of compassion, respect for living things, or even a basic display of humanity toward livestock that have served the interests of man since the dawn of civilization. Indeed, these are not true factories either—they are livestock prisons designed ultimately to preserve and engorge the economic coffers of large corporate behemoths increasingly at the expense of smaller producers, local communities, and arguably the eater.

Recently, some individual states have enacted legislation to protect these facilities by making it a felony to photograph (even from a public road) a CAFO Farm operation. In Missouri, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that legislation, overwhelmingly passed by their lawmakers, is before the governor for his signature. If approved, the Missouri law would largely exempt CAFO operators from liability from individual lawsuits resulting from steep losses of neighborhood property values; environmental damage from runoff onto neighboring properties, or waterways; and continual foul odors that may permeate the surrounding community, among other impacts.

Large corporate interests have (presumably) pressured the state to make legal what clearly violates basic constitutional rights of its citizens—in the words of the Saint Louis paper: “HB 209 would limit the liability for CAFO operators. In effect, it grants factory farms the right, for a one-time payment, to devastate property values and take away in perpetuity their neighbors’ use and enjoyment of their property.”

If the federal government ever decides to strengthen (as opposed to, weaken) environmental laws as they apply to agriculture; staunchly defend the rights of individuals, and their local communities to hold fully liable large agriculture interests that cause them harm; protect to the utmost public health concerns—at a minimum— by limiting prophylactic use of antibiotics in livestock, and not allowing the storage of massive manure lagoons to exist; strengthen (not weaken) whistleblower laws to inform the public about what is really going on behind closed doors with the food they are eating; and eliminate all government subsidies to large CAFO’s—these measures would likely restore at least some balance to a livestock industry gone terribly awry…

From the CAFO book, a few of the historical changes in the U.S. livestock industry since 1950:

• Today, 330 million cattle and 100 million hogs are slaughtered each year. Two states, Iowa and North Carolina represent about 80% of the hogs raised on factory farms; they contain 5000 hogs, or more.
• The New York Times reported in 2008. Iowa’s 5000 confinement hog facilities generate over 50 million tons of raw waste, equivalent to 16.7 tons of animal manure for every resident. (Source: Dave Murphy, The Great Pig Debate: How CAFO’s Stalk The Next President, Animal Welfare Institute Quarterly, Winter 2008)
• A recent World Watch report estimates that the livestock sector may be responsible for up to 50% of all greenhouse gas emissions. (source: Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, Livestock and Climate Change: What If The Key Players in Climate Change are…Cows, Pigs, and Chickens?” Worldwatch November/December 2009, pages 10-19)
• It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef. As more of the world’s population shifts to the western diet of meat, eggs, and dairy, this creates an unsustainable impact on the environment.
• Between 1997 and 2005, factory farms saved an estimated 31 billion dollars (over this 8 year period), thanks to U.S. taxpayer subsidies to purchase corn and soybeans below production costs. (source: Elanor Starmer and Timothy A. Wise, Feeding At The Trough: Industrial Livestock Firms Saved $35 Billion From Low Feed Prices, Policy Brief No. 07-03; December 2007)
• In 1950: there were more than 3 million hog operations, by 2007, that number dwindled to just over 17,000 due largely to industry consolidation.
• In 1950 (before factory farms): there were 21 million cows producing 116 billion pounds; in 2000, there were only 9 million cows producing (even more milk), 167 billion pounds.
• In 1960: US Beef Cattle Operations totaled 2.7 million, by the year 2000, that number was reduced to 1.1 million, more than a 50% reduction over 40 years. (Source: U.S. Per Capita Dairy and Egg Consumption, 1950-2007; Humane Society of the United States)
• Per capita beef consumption from 1960 to 2000 climbed from 44 pounds per year, per person to 67 pounds per year, per person. Even as beef consumption has exponentially risen (combined with population growth over this 40 year period) industry consolidation has significantly reduced the number of cattle operations. (Source: U.S. Per Capita Dairy and Egg Consumption, 1950-2007; Humane Society of the United States)

Disclosure: CUPS received a complimentary copy of CAFO for review purposes.

He looked down at the tangled wet hair, the wild, bare, animal shoulders. He was amazed, bewildered, and afraid. He had never thought of loving her. He had never wanted to love her. When he rescued her and restored her, he was a doctor, and she was a patient. He had had no single personal thought of her. Nay, this introduction of the personal element was very distasteful to him, a violation of his professional honour. It was horrible to have her there embracing his knees. It was horrible. He revolted from it, violently. And yet – and yet – he had not the power to break away. —excerpt from the The Horse Dealer’s Daughter-D.H. Lawrence

Editorial

The great modern scientific achievements of the 20th century that brought us life saving antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, vitamin supplements, and insect controlling pesticides provided an essential arsenal of tools to seemingly divorce ourselves from nature, and allowed us to usher in the great industrial agriculture revolution. By the later half of the century, for the first time in human history, agriculture production could be assembled on a giant, and centralized scale; massive tracts of land could be used to grow a single crop at a time, and large numbers of livestock could be housed in warehouse style buildings without ever having to see the light of day (thanks to vitamin D, and antibiotics). Models based upon achieving hyper-efficiencies, and through economies of scale— fueled a ceaseless march toward ever cheaper cost per units of agriculture production. With each passing decade, the changing face of American agriculture became larger, more industrial, operating more like a factory, than a living (and breathing) small farm.

CAFO Operation with Surrounding Manure Lagoons; photo courtesy of Terry Spence from the CAFO Book Project

In the past, the tyranny of farming, so highly dependent upon the vast and uncontrollable forces of nature finally began to give way to man’s modern scientific prowess, and nowhere more given to sway than in the production of livestock.

CAFO Hogs; photo courtesy of Daniel Pepper from the CAFO Book Project

For farm animals, in particular: chickens, hogs, cattle, and dairy cows may now be housed in massive numbers, so tightly confined, in many cases, unable to move around and never to touch a blade of grass, roll in any mud, or permitted outside. The government has a name for these massive corporate owned megafarms, they have been designated as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO’s), but to a growing cadre of critics, they see them simply as a form of livestock concentration camp. And their supposed models of efficiency, and economies of scale not only ignore the steep environmental and social costs, they subject animals to such cruelty, and needless suffering: their very existence can only represent a demarcation line between good and evil.

As Dan Imhoff explains in part 1 of this video— editor of the new (coffee table size) book CAFO, a large body of illuminating essays, and full spread pages of (full-throttled) images depicting a litany of inhumane livestock conditions and their effects—the toll of these CAFO operations upon local communities, public health, and the environment obliterates any supposed economic advantages of such a system. Only through large federal subsidies (in the Farm Bill), and by ignoring a range of hidden (or largely obscured) costs that are ultimately borne by the taxpayer and eater, can their existence be cost justified.

Who we are as a people is defined by what we do, and what we think is right. Those of us who look back upon recent history, and wonder how so many genocides were allowed to happen by so many (presumably good) people; we all carry within us the seeds of our own destruction. That may be sober reason enough to not allow these megafarms to continue in our name.

Filmed November 9, 2010 at the Friends of Family Farmers InFARMation (and Beer!) event.

University of Oregon's Food Justice Conference 2011

* Rachel Bristol, CEO, Oregon Food Bank
Deb Johnson-Shelton, President, Lane County (Oregon) Food Policy Council
* Young Kim, Executive Director, Fondy Food Center, Milwaukee
Tammy Morales, Principal, Urban Food Link
* Chris Schreiner, Executive Director, Oregon Tilth
Cynthia Torres, Director, Colorado Farmers Market Association
Moderator: Naomi Starkman, Co-founder of Civil Eats

* shown in the video

Editorial
Why a quest for food justice? Does the food system require its own particular flavor of justice outside of the wider society? After all, if there is adequate justice in the world, wouldn’t that cover this sector equally as well? Or conversely, if justice is lacking in society as a whole, how then do we expect to make things right in one particular realm, but not the whole?

That is the conundrum at hand. For although food justice is a particular challenge within the agricultural system, (social, economic, and political) injustice are inextricably woven into the fabric of our society at large. The struggles of the working class (also now increasingly for those in the middle class too) must confront a host of common challenges including affordable access to healthcare, food insecurity, availability of livable wage jobs, systemic bias and discrimination toward the poor; and an increasing political tolerance for the acceptance of historically high levels of inequality in America.

Rising inequality feeds on itself, tipping the scales ever further away from the creation of a just society, food justice lies captive, rotting in the dormant social wind.

“If we have a need in society, and we have unutilized labor, land, technology— the other real resources required to address it— money alone should never be the deciding constraint.”—David Korten

In part 4, David Korten concludes his talk on transforming the destructive, (and corrupt) Wall Street driven financial system to one centered around meeting the real needs of local communities, whose collective health and well-being will engender wider prosperity for society as a whole.

“…Earth’s bounty, on which all of life depends, is the shared birth right of all living beings; none of us created it, and none of us has a right to monopolize it.”—David Korten

In this third installment, David Korten, author of Agenda For a New Economy, outlines the steps necessary to create an economy that values life at the utmost, and properly treats money as merely a means for serving a higher purpose. Look more to the ecologist as a guide for creating a sustainable economy than to the economist, Korten advises, for the new economy must adhere to the laws of nature, and to the service of fulfilling human needs.

“It is a stunning commentary on our time, that most graduates from our institutions of higher learning—even with degrees in economics and business—have no idea how the money system operates as a system of power, and have no intellectual tools to address its role in distorting society’s values, and resource allocation decisions.” —David Korten

Part 2; David Korten, author of Agenda for a New Economy, and former Visiting Associate Professor of the Harvard University Graduate School of Business explains in understandable terms, how our money system operates in today’s world. Korten argues, understanding the true nature of money “is an essential key to breaking out of our collective trance”, a form of mass psychosis whose corrosive effects can be strongly felt throughout society.

David Korten’s talk was presented by the Cascadia Green Building Council whose focus is on addressing “the impact of the built environment on the planet we call home”.

This is but one example of the political rift that exists between opposing ideologies, in this case, where the proper role of science to inform responsible policy decisions (embodied in the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and whose reports are sounding the alarm), are disregarded by a sizable political faction who openly question the validity of the science. Of course, in the end, mother nature will not abate her will in homage to any particular party ideology, or powerful vested interest.

The major issues before our nation, and of the world run deeper, more profound, than political labels and simplistic arguments currently maintain. We have framed our debate in almost Homer Simpsonesque style, fittingly delivered through endless sound bites, and cursory analysis on traditional news outlets, relying heavily upon the most effective (and cynical) educational tool ever devised: mass media advertising.

Off the national debate table, is how we Americans, and other citizens of the world, are going to “create a world that works for all.” One, as David Korten, author of “The Agenda for a New Economy,” and co-founder of Yes! Magazine, outlines a framework for, in these talks on CUpS.

In part one, of this 4 part series, Korten melds economic theory to the built environment (man-made structures that define our local communities and larger society), he argues requires a complete “system redesign,” a political, economic, and environmental restructuring in order to avert serious consequences for humankind. Along the way, he summarizes the story of our existence as he has interpreted it from philosophers, religious, and scientific thinkers throughout the ages. Pointing to the preamble to the Earth’s Charter crafted at the 1992 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Korton argues this framework provides for an understanding of the type of new world economy that will sustain life for everyone, including that of the natural world, the foundation for all life to prosper—including our species.

David Korten’s talk was presented by the Cascadia Green Building Council whose focus is on addressing “the impact of the built environment on the planet we call home”.

Filmed in May 2010 at the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s, Cooking For Solutions: Sustainable Foods Institute media conference, Mr. Masumoto talks about the recent passing of his father, and the inner search for achieving a balance with life where no such state is fully possible. This panel discussion on Stories of Sustainability was moderated by Jane Black of the Washington Post.

In the video below from his publisher, Simon and Schuster, Mas Masumoto shares a passage from his latest book, Wisdom of the Last Farmer:

This is a central theme that runs through much of the sustainable food movement’s core beliefs, and those advocating a profound change to the existing structure of the food system. Michael Pollan, in his 2008 “Open Letter to the Next Farmer In Chief“, writes:

“Food policy is not something American presidents have had to give much thought to, at least since the Nixon administration— the last time high food prices presented a serious political peril. Since then, federal policies to promote maximum production of the commodity crops (corn, soybeans, wheat and rice) from which most of our supermarket foods are derived have succeeded impressively in keeping prices low and food more or less off the national political agenda.”

Indeed, the massive consolidation of agricultural food companies into giant transnational corporations may well trace its origins to Nixon’s Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz, whose prime directive was to develop a plan to keep U.S. food prices at a reliably low level. With the recent decision of the Department of Justice to investigate the mounting evidence of over-consolidation of the food industry, it seems fair to ask whether the pendulum of centralization, maximization of production, monoculture industrial farming, and the existence of mega-farms (technically referred to as CAFO’s), has shifted the pendulum too far.

The high cost of cheap food begs a serious question: who should foot the bill to cover the full external costs of industrial farming—the American people, as has largely been the case—or the corporations who chiefly benefit from the existing structure?

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Cooking For Solutions Sustainable Foods Institute annual conference, a two day event for the media to promote learning and discussion around the many issues that impact food and sustainability issues. This year’s talks and panel discussions brought together an eclectic mix of scientific experts, environmental journalists, top sustainability chefs, science authors, and others to discuss the state of the ocean’s health, climate change, aquaculture, sustainable fishing and agriculture practices, genetic engineering, the obesity epidemic, and much more.

The Sustainable Foods Institute is a part of the Cooking For Solutions Celebration, a public event designed to foster better awareness between the food we eat, and its effect upon the environment. It’s also an opportunity to sample fabulous sustainably produced foods, wines, and organic foods, watch cooking demonstrations, and walk among the many fish exhibits that make the aquarium a world-class ocean museum.

Stay tuned for the upcoming release of full length talks and panel discussions from the 2010 Sustainable Foods Institute conference.

Part 6: Carlo Petrini, in this final installment, argues for economic respect, and fairness to the small farmers of the world. Economy and ecology, he reminds us, share the same roots, and that it is local economies that will save our society, and it’s the global economy that threatens to destroy it. For those who may think of Slow Food in terms of being an organization striving to promote better conditions for farmers, and better awareness for people about the food they eat—while true—the ideas laid out by this founding visionary are a trumpet call for an entirely new world order.

Since the Nixon administration, when then Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, led the drive to invigorate agriculture production by encouraging farmers to become bigger, and to maximize production even as commodity prices would likely fall over time; sales quantity, and the opening of foreign markets to U.S. farmers were seen as a means to offset shrinking profit margins. Recognizing clearly the political potency of agriculture policy to control, or destabilize other countries, rising food prices at home could also produce similar, but (obviously) undesirable, destabilizing effects. Every administration since Nixon has had at its national core the objective of increasing U.S. agriculture productivity, and efficiency—to keep our own food prices low.

The question Petrini, and other food activists and policy experts are asking, have we made our food too cheap, and even worse, through the 90 billion dollar Farm Bill— (subsidized) promoted the wrong foods to be eaten? For those, not in the so called food movement, are people like Petrini advocating the poor spend more on food, or simply do with less? Some experts argue in response, let the federal farm bill shift its subsidies to whole foods (as opposed to ingredients for processed foods), and to help small and mid-sized farmers produce food in a more sustainable fashion over a long time frame. The premise being: make it cheaper to purchase a bunch of carrots than a box of cookies to encourage people of all economic means to eat more healthy foods —let the junk, and fast food become expensive to eat.

In this segment, Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food International levels a charge many Americans may find difficult to accept. We should spend more for the food we eat!

Petrini points out, as a percentage of our overall disposable income spent on food, we spend less than most other industrialized nations in the world. The core of Petrin’s argument cuts to the heart of what constitutes food quality, along with a broader view of the full costs (economists refer to these as externalities) associated with the production of cheap food. To Petrini, cheap food is the principle goal of industrial agriculture, and its focus upon profit as measured by increasing levels of productivity and efficiencies, while largely ignoring the associated costs upon the environment, public health, and the well being of the farmers who produce the food.

To Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food International, one of the great challenges we will face in the next few years is to create a sustainable community. Technology and economy should work together in harmony with nature, not interfere with it. As a world community, Petrini lays out the incredible challenge facing society at large—toward becoming an ecologically literate people.

The environmental challenges that we face, and that our food system plays an important, active role in creating, requires the understanding that societal interests (the public interest), travel hand in hand with the care and protection of the environment, and that all of life (including commerce), ultimately depend. Eschewing both consumerism (as a disease), and advertising as an educational tool designed for imbeciles, Petrini urges us to use our minds, and become co-producers in our food system. By choosing carefully the types of foods that we purchase, we can contribute to the environment, and to the well being of our local communities, and beyond.

Along the evolutionary path of life, man came to think of himself as detached from nature, and nature, to be controlled and harnessed for the benefit of man.

Carlo Petrini, Founder of Slow Food International

Part 3, of this Carlo Petrini series, Petrini asks us to take a step back from our daily lives, and reexamine our values that we hold so dear; perhaps values we would never think to ever question.

Tracing through a brief summary of philosophers and scientific thought from Galileo and Descartes, to Francis Bacon and finally Edgar Morin, Petrini argues that society has become too individualistic, too materialistic, and too narrow in its appreciation and understanding of nature, and of what it means to be human.

Unless we fundamentally change our view of the world, and resulting collective behaviors, Petrini warns, we are heading down the path into oblivion.

Agriculture has by its very nature a system of built-in limitations. But according to Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food International, we have figured out how to bypass many of those limits, and as a result, society pays a terrible cost.

In this segment, Petrini describes the serious problems we face as a result of too much effort toward enhancing food production at the expense of quality, along with the mounting toll on the environment. Though there are 6 billion people living on this planet, we produce enough food to feed a population of 12 billion people. So why then, are there 800+ million people suffering from global hunger? Why Petrini asks, are our farms more polluted than our cities?

Petrini makes an impassioned plea for a transformation in our thinking about agriculture, and a recalibrating of our goals as a global society to live in harmony with the natural world.

Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food International shares his views about food, politics, and American culture on the road to a sustainable food nation. Part one explores the meaning of gastronomy, the current impact of food production upon the environment, and the pressing need for fundamental change. From Fast Food Nation to Slow Food Nation, this event was sponsored by Kaiser Permanente’s Center For Health Research.