Lee, Noreen, Evan, Carsten and Brita Thomas raise heritage hens for eggs plus several dairy cows on Lee Thomas Farm. The farm is a century old and located near Fargo, North Dakota. The Thomas’ often provide on-farm tours for school children and groups in the summer to come and learn about animal welfare and the family’s farming practices. Contact Lee Thomas Farm for more information through their vendor listing above.

Del and Debra Ferguson raise Animal Welfare Approved beef cattle on their farm, Hunter Cattle Company, in Brooklet, GA. Del and Debra believe in the health benefits of grassfed beef. Grassfed beef is proven to be lower in fat, higher in good fat (omega-3’s and CLA’s), and vitamin E, while also allowing animals to engage in natural ruminant behavior. Del and Debra’s cows are raised and finished on grass with no added growth hormones, steroids or unnecessary antibiotics- and have all the access they want to expansive, open pastures.

The October 4, 2009 New York Times story, “E. coli Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection,” is a chilling reminder to the public that we gamble unknowingly with our health every day, even when safer, viable options to the current systems are readily available.

The Times story follows a convoluted and widespread chain of production that ended with hamburger contaminated with the virulent E. coli strain O157:H7 being sold to the public, leaving one young woman paralyzed and more than 900 others ill. The story recounts the secrecy, obfuscation, and duplicity that processors engage in to avoid testing beef for E. coli and to protect a system that gives rise to tainted beef.

With fall harvest season in full swing, there was good news from the USDA for consumers who prefer to buy their produce, meat, dairy and eggs directly from farmers: the number of farmer’s markets in the United States has grown by 13% over the past year. According to the agency, 5,274 farmer’s markets are now operating nationwide, up from 4,685 reported in 2008 (a gain of 589 markets).

The USDA has just launched the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative to help develop local and regional food systems and spur economic opportunity.

Farmer Jean Joyner raises Animal Welfare Approved Dorper and Katahdin sheep on Joyner Farm in Faison, North Carolina.

Twiddle Dee Farm’s proprietors believe in being good stewards of the land and upholding the high standards of Animal Welfare Approved. The farm has been in the Peterson family for almost a hundred years and the Petersons are members of the North Carolina Sheep Producers Association as well as Goodness Grows in North Carolina.

In response to a recent press release announcing that La Cense Ranch has become the first grassfed beef producer to be certified under the USDA “Grass Fed” standard, Animal Welfare Approved Program Director Andrew Gunther made the following statement:

“I am seeing a re-emergence of the arguments that surrounded initial discussions about the USDA’s ‘Grass Fed’ definition. The USDA standard only partially addresses buyers’ expectations for grassfed meat. We are concerned that consumers may assume that a USDA Grass Fed certification means that ruminants are raised on pasture for the duration of their lives, without confinement or feedlots.”

AWA staffers Emily Lancaster, Brigid Sweeney and Beth Hauptle were honored to represent Animal Welfare Approved at Farm Aid this year from October 2-4 in St. Louis Missouri. AWA farmers Mark and Patricia Whisnant, David and Lana Price and Henry and JoAnn Fudge joined us for the festivities. It was the 24th year of Farm Aid and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews continue to work hard to promote family farms.

Well, it’s official. Giving your cows names can increase their milk yield.

I’ve just read in The London Times that scientists at the University of Newcastle in the UK were awarded one of this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes for finding out that cows who are given names produced a higher milk yield than those who weren’t. I laughed, too. But then it got me thinking.

You see, while the Ig Noble Prize ceremony is all rather tongue in cheek, there is a serious side; the prizes are awarded to research achievements that “first make people LAUGH then make them THINK.” While this research might seem a little ridiculous, it was actually a serious study into cow welfare.

Willie Nelson appeared on CNN yesterday, talking about Farm Aid and the struggle of America’s family farms. In this clip, he also performs a new song to be premiered at Farm Aid, which he co-authored with Bob Dylan. Animal Welfare staff members and three Animal Welfare Approved farmers are on hand at Farm Aid this weekend to spread the word about the benefits of pasture-based farming and high-welfare standards. Hope to see you at the Homegrown Village and at tonight’s Farm Aid Eve dinner where all of the pork and beef served will be from AWA farmers Fudge Family Farms (pork) and American Grass Fed Beef. Photo: Paul Natkin/Photo Reserve Inc. 2008

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