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AWA Invites You to Thank a Family Farmer

November 19, 2010 on 2:22 pm | By Emily in Family Farms, Holiday Traditions, People, The Big Picture 27 Comments

AWA_ThankFarmer_Email_Header 500Animal Welfare Approved has an annual tradition of thanking the family farmers who work so hard, year in and year out, to produce healthy, safe, humane and environmentally responsible food for our communities. Farming is not an easy job, and we want to encourage AWA friends and followers to take this opportunity to appreciate farmers you know for their contribution to this harvest holiday of Thanksgiving, and throughout the year.

We are not only indebted to farmers for our food itself, but for their careful husbandry of our natural resources. Pasture-based farmers are truly the custodians of the countryside. This method of farming in particular requires an intimate knowledge of the land, the animals and the interaction between the two. The practice of raising animals outdoors, humanely, in pasture- and range-based systems is experiencing a resurgence as we learn about the environmental, social and welfare consequences of conventional farming — and seek an alternative.

This pasture-based alternative is not new; it is in fact the way our ancestors fed themselves for centuries. We are grateful to the farmers in the AWA program, and to all those practicing sustainable farming, for reviving and building on this traditional knowledge to the benefit of us all.

Please take this opportunity, by including a comment below, to share your appreciation for the farmers in your life. You may also comment via Facebook and Twitter (#ThankAWAfarmers). If you are a farmer, tell us about fellow farmer or mentor who has influenced your development or has helped you along the way.

Thanks for your comments and from all of us at Animal Welfare Approved, may you and your family and friends enjoy this Thanksgiving holiday!


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27 Comments

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  1. A big hearty thanks to Holding Ranch for awesome pastured chicken eggs and great meat; Barbarosa Ranchers and Tyler for the CSA through The Foragers; Ibarra Farms and Terra Bella, both of whom I see at the Pleasanton and Livermore CA farmer’s markets; and Full Circle Bison Ranch for great meat, the BEST polish sausages anywhere and for the great respect they show their animals.
    Thank you for the time, expense, and integrity you put into farming/ranching sustainably and healthfully, for the animals and for us, and for making the world a better place.

    Comment by Claudine — November 19, 2010 #

  2. This family is newly aware of AWA, but has forever been committed to animal welfare. As we continue to learn from AWA about the progress being made in America in family and grass-fed farms winding up with state-of-the-art anxiety-free and painless slaughter, we to THANK YOU wonderful farmers for setting such a excellent example! For you, we are extraordinarily thankful this Thanksgiving!

    Comment by Gordon — November 20, 2010 #

  3. Right on, about thanking -our farmers at Thanksgiving!!!

    Comment by Liza Plaster / Ripshin Goat Dairy — November 22, 2010 #

  4. Thank you for giving me access to food that I’m not afraid to feed to my family!

    Comment by Kristina Morton-Jones — November 22, 2010 #

  5. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to know where my food is coming from and knowing the animals were treated humanely.

    Comment by Wendy Lovas — November 22, 2010 #

  6. I wish you and your family many blessings for the holidays. We appreciate what you are doing for the animals and for us!

    Comment by Lisa Milton — November 22, 2010 #

  7. Thank you for a guilt-free Thanksgiving.

    Comment by Amy Shawn Doty — November 22, 2010 #

  8. Thank you for returning our procurement of food to the “good old days” when animals were treated with respect and appreciation and people weren’t being poisoned. I think the USDA should be required to put a skull and crossbones on much of what is offered at the grocery store, including meat

    Comment by Beverly Bee — November 22, 2010 #

  9. Thank you!

    Comment by Esther A. Mills — November 22, 2010 #

  10. As an AWA farmer, I’d like to thank you, AWA, for all the hard work you put into helping us get the word out about the importance of humane treatment for all farm animals, and for upholding such high standards. I recently saw a reference to AWA as “the gold standard of ethical treatment” for livestock. Thank you!

    Comment by Sophie Purdy Meili — November 22, 2010 #

  11. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
    You keep us healthy, happy, and so reassured!

    Comment by Jo-De Davis — November 22, 2010 #

  12. Thank you SOOOOOOOOO much. I wish everyone appreciated you all and we could get rid of this AWFUL industrialized farming!

    Comment by Ma Bugni's Farm — November 22, 2010 #

  13. Thank You so much AWA for trying to enlighten us about the horrors of factory farming, I’m glad that more and more people are thinking about where the food that they put on their table comes from.

    Comment by Dolores L. Dendy — November 22, 2010 #

  14. I am so thankful there are people like you out there going to the significantly extra effort & expense to make sure that humans are responsible caretakers & consumers of the animals we all use for our benefit. I can partake of animal-based foods more comfortably because of the jobs you all do. God bless all of you.

    Best wishes for continued success & thanks again.

    Comment by Charla Childers — November 22, 2010 #

  15. So many folks have helped us along as we continue on our own paths in local food adventuring. A big thanks to the following for inspiring us: Triple E Farms and the Egenolf family for getting me started on the family farm, to all the folks supporting 4-H over the years, to Mike Connelly at the Green Blade Bakery for planting seeds of agrarianism in my brain, to Dr. Carl Jordan for encouraging me to understand things better and to give me a place to raise some cattle on Georgia’s clay and sod, for Jason Mann for co-founding the MoonShine Meat CSA and my first grass-based cattle herd and direct-marketing enterprise, to Will Harris of White Oak Pastures, to Dan Glenn for blazing his own paths in Tifton, GA and being a good sounding board, and to all others out there making it happen and keeping the rest of us excited about it. I am truly Thankful!

    Comment by Josh Egenolf — November 22, 2010 #

  16. My concern is & always will be the treatment & welfare (humane) for all the animals that ‘grace’ our tables of consumption. They deserve all the gentle Rx. we can provide them & ‘a thank you’ for their sacrifice to our needs!

    Comment by Eileen Coppola — November 22, 2010 #

  17. I just loathe how some people complain about farmers, usually with a mouth full of food. Remember, they are the ones making capable the feast you’ll enjoy.

    Comment by Annette Wilson-Wiitala — November 22, 2010 #

  18. Thanks so much for making such a great example of humane farming practices. We need to spread the word more and more!!!

    Comment by Alisa Vogel — November 22, 2010 #

  19. Thank you so much for your hard work and strong ethic. You are an inspiration.

    Comment by Timsy Apel — November 22, 2010 #

  20. thank you AWA farmers!

    Comment by Meghan Cannarella — November 23, 2010 #

  21. As a family farmer, I would like to thank AWA for helping us to enlighten people to the fact that their food can be raised humanely, healthy to eat, and delicious. Thanks so much for caring about and helping family farms and farm animals.

    Comment by Tai Johnson-Spratt — November 24, 2010 #

  22. FAMILY FARMERS ROCK! Thanks for all that you do, guys. :-)

    Comment by Shar Wilson — November 24, 2010 #

  23. You are Welcome..:)) We enjoy being a family farm..!!

    Comment by Deb Brandenburg — November 24, 2010 #

  24. Thanks so much to all the family farms out there.

    Comment by deborah nixon — November 25, 2010 #

  25. THANK YOU AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! YOU ARE MUCH APPRECIATED.

    Comment by Teri — November 25, 2010 #

  26. Thank you SOOOOOOOOO much. I wish everyone appreciated you all and we could get rid of this AWFUL industrialized farming!

    Comment by 成都SEO — November 27, 2010 #

  27. Again this year I would like to thank the family farmers who take the extra time, effort, and sometimes funds to provide humane treatment for the animals we eat. Keep up the good work.
    Happy Holidays

    Comment by T. Williams — December 4, 2011 #

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