Farmers Join the ASPCA on Capitol Hill for Briefing Urging Congress to Invest in a More Humane, Healthy Food System

WASHINGTON, DC – Today on Capitol Hill, the ASPCA^® moderated a briefing featuring farmers and ranchers from across the country who shared their experiences both raising animals in the industrial agriculture system and operating in a healthier, more humane and sustainable manner. Congressional staff in attendance heard directly from farmers who advocated for policy solutions, highlighting the need for greater investment in America’s independent farms, and encouraged Congress to prioritize support for higher-welfare, more resilient, pasture-based farming systems as discussions continue around federal funding and the next Farm Bill. The briefing directly follows a June 16^th tour of two higher-welfare farms in Virginia – Whiffletree Tree Farm and Kinloch Farm – where congressional staff joined the ASPCA, farmers, and other food system experts to visit these operations in-person and hear directly from the farmers making them successful.

Hosted in cooperation with Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.), the panel featured a robust discussion with farmers from Georgia, North Carolina, Minnesota and Virgina, who spoke about the benefits for animals, farmers and consumers of more humane, pasture-based farming, how their practices differ from industrial agriculture, the markets they’re currently able to access, as well as the barriers to growth and financial stability that they face using non-industrial practices. The farmers also explained how federal policies impede their ability to adopt better practices or continue farming this way, highlighting the critical need to invest in America’s independent farms and the supply chains they rely upon to support the growth of a more humane, healthy food system.

“At the ASPCA we celebrate the farmers and ranchers across the country who choose – despite the many challenges of working in a system that was not designed for them – to raise animals with the highest welfare standards,” said Daisy Freund, vice president of Farm Animal Welfare for the ASPCA. “After hearing from these farmers and seeing first-hand the difference that high welfare, pasture-based farming can make, we hope that lawmakers will understand that we cannot double down on the industrial status quo and join us in building a more humane and healthy farming system.”

“Conventional farming practices often work against the nature of land and animals: pastures are overgrazed, animals are stressed, our food lacks nutrition, and toxic feed and chemicals are used to save money and band-aid the systemic problems,” Jesse Straight, farmer and founder of Whiffletree Farm in Virginia. “U.S. land, animals, food, and farmers will benefit from farm policy that encourages farming that collaborates with nature’s systems.”

“Farmers want out of industrial agriculture. They want to raise animals or grow crops in healthier ways that don’t leave them desperately buried under debt, but there is no off ramp,” said Craig Watts, former poultry contract grower & director of the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project’s Contract Grower Transition Program. “We need federal policies like the Industrial Agriculture Conversion Act to save farmers from exploitative contracts and help them farm with dignity and security.”

“Investing in pasture-based, humane agriculture offers huge economic, ecological and food security returns,” said Andrew L. Smith Sr., co-owner of Smith Brothers’ Ranch in Georgia. “This way of farming and ranching isn’t a quaint folly, its already nourishing communities, regenerating our soil and revitalizing rural America, but we need policies in place to scale and replicate these benefits that will enable all producers to grow together.”

“Higher-welfare farmers in the Midwest and across the country need public investment in coordinated value chains, accessible support services, and community-owned infrastructure to build resilient regional food systems,” said Diane Christofore, executive director of the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance. “If we want nourishing food, regenerative, humane agriculture at scale, and money back in the hands of the people growing our food, then farmers and rural communities need to be in the driver’s seat of farm policy.”

Over 10 billion animals are raised for food on U.S. factory farms every year, and surveys show that the vast majority (89%) of Americans are concerned about industrial animal agriculture, citing animal welfare, worker safety, or public health risks as a concern. Today’s panel of farmers demonstrated that there are more humane alternatives to factory farming, highlighting the urgent need to align the food system with the values of a majority of Americans. As Congress considers which farmers and practices to support with the hundreds of billions of dollars allocated to agriculture through the Farm Bill and other vehicles, they must increase support for the many farms that are protecting animals, consumers and our environment, rather than using tax dollars to reinforce the harm done by factory farming.

For more information about the ASPCA or to join the Advocacy Brigade, please visit www.aspca.org.