Please contact Tim Holmes of AWA directly with certification questions (252-796-8079). Contact NCNGHA President Jeremiah Jones at 910-290-2547 for meeting details or additional information about NCNHGA membership.

Animal Welfare Approved is a free certification for family farms raising their animals outdoors on pasture or range.  AWA provides marketing and technical support to farmers in the program.  For more information visit www.AnimalWelfareApproved.org.

Instead, according to a CNN profile, Boyd found himself going to the funeral of another elderly black farmer who never received the money due him. According to CNN, Boyd, speaking at the farmer’s memorial service, said, “It really hurts to be here and have to deliver a message at Mr. Bonner’s going home services that Congress failed to act.”

The National Black Farmer’s Association has been supported in its quest by Animal Welfare Approved.  The farmers affected by the suit will face another farming season without the money owed to them by the U.S. According to Boyd, the discrimination of the past lingers today; the average subsidy to the top 10 percent of farms is over $1 million per farmer. The average subsidy to a black farmer is $200 and very few black farmers participate in the USDA subsidy or loan system.

Being a small farmer is a difficult job in the best of times, but when you are a small farmer going up against an entrenched system designed to reward a privileged few, it’s can be disheartening. But the black farmers are fighting on—both on and off the farm. “We didn’t survive because we were bad farmers, we survived because we were good farmers,” Boyd told CNN.

TailGate Farm

Farmer Janis Moore raises grassfed Simmental, Hereford and Angus cattle on pasture at TailGait Farm in Springfield, Vermont. Spring calf tours, pasture walks and “Cattle 101″ workshops are available. View the vendor listing above and contact the farm for more information.

The land’s sole use will be for hay making. Bill is very excited about the opportunity to become the steward of the property because he says, “it will be a huge benefit to the local community. It’s going to be a completely sustainable local food system.” Stuart Family Farm already feeds 250-300 Connecticut families and many of them are living in Brookfield.

Bill wants to increase his farm’s herd in order to meet the demand of consumers wanting Animal Welfare Approved grass fed beef. In order to increase the herd, Bill knew they would have to feed the cattle hay in the winter months, but he is committed to doing all of this locally (Brookfield and Bridgewater are only 8 miles apart, very low on food mileage). Haying in Brookfield makes this possible while at the same time preserving and restoring local farmland. As Bill put it, “It’s a very good deal when you talk about local sustainable agriculture…The only energy we’ll be using is solar energy from the grass and the equipment to harvest the hay.”

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of hosting Andrew Gunther, Program Director of Animal Welfare Approved (AWA), for a tour of our farm. In spite of the absolutely horrid weather (36 degrees, heavy rain, snow and strong winds), we managed to get Mr. Gunther a decent look at our operation and some chicken soup afterwards to take the chill off.

I always enjoy an opportunity to meet, speak with and learn from someone like Mr. Gunther, but several things made this a very special visit. First, Mr. Gunther’s core expertise is poultry and to have access to someone with his knowledge and experience was a very exciting event. I could have talked for days. I would have offered him a vacation spot to keep him on the farm longer but I figured our current strange weather would scare him off of that thought.

Secondly, his visit really changed the way I look at AWA. I knew from the beginning that AWA cares about the animals but I must confess that I had no idea of how much they care about the farmers that support their standards. I was also very pleased to learn how committed Mr. Gunther is to improving all aspects of our food supply, including but going beyond the welfare of livestock. We discussed many topics and it is clear that AWA is here to support their member farmers with a variety of resources, including some very experienced industry professionals.

It really was an enriching experience for me and I hope it was for him as well. I realize that Mr. Gunther is a busy man with a busy schedule so this really was a rare opportunity and I’d like to thank him for taking the time to tour our modest operation and look forward to a long relationship with him and Animal Welfare Approved.

I would urge you to support AWA, even if only by mentioning AWA to the farmer that you buy your chicken, beef or lamb (etc.) from, and by looking for the AWA label. It’s a great program for the animals and it’s great for the farmer and consumer as well. AWA specifically looks to support family farms rather than the typical corporate industrial farm. They also have the most stringent standards of the three national humane certifiers and yet are the only one that provides their certification at no cost to the farmer.

Tim Koebel
Alfred, NY

www.windyridgepoultry.com
And please feel free to join us on our Food Ed site at:
http://www.facebook.com/organic.pastured.poultry
Hope to see you there!

AWA Program Director Andrew Gunther moderated the discussion, beginning by posing this question to the panelists: “How does such a diversified group have an opinion on the future of agriculture?” Panelists’ responses highlighted the issues that affect all of us, including truth in labeling, fair and scale-appropriate regulation, overuse of antibiotics, environmental pollution and treatment of farm animals and workers.

Speakers also addressed the role of the consumer in ensuring the sustainability of our food system. Morison explained, “Consumers need to get more involved in their communities. You’re not only sustaining farms, but the communities as well.” Kirby commented on the disconnect between consumer expectation and the realities of the food we eat: “When you get your cheap yogurt at the mall you’re not thinking about how now someone can’t use their well water anymore.” Niman encouraged eaters to do their homework, understand the systems they support with their food dollars and offered the following rule of thumb:  “I want all my food to come from farms I want to visit.” Dr. Whisnant agreed, encouraging us to “start from the consumer side and demand change.”

We were honored to host such an accomplished and articulate panel.  Their work is creating a truly sustainable path forward – one that sustains farm families, animals and the communities that depend on them.

For more quotes from the event visit us on Twitter (@AWAapproved). We will be posting video footage soon!

The USDA has now committed to forming a new animal disease traceability framework in partnership with the states and Tribal Nations. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has expressed hope that the new framework will allow producers, the states and the Tribal Nations to use their expertise to draft a traceability program that works best for them. The new framework will only apply to animals shipped interstate and will only focus on animal disease traceability. The program will be led and administered by each state and the Tribal Nations. The USDA will provide support to the programs; part of the new initiative will be developing identification systems that fit into the needs and budgets of participating groups that move animals interstate.

Secretary Vilsack is also reviving the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Animal Health, which will have representatives from all interested groups, including organic producers and small farmers. The committee will advise the USDA on issues surrounding the new traceability framework.

The USDA will be holding three meetings to discuss the new framework and solicit feedback. The meetings are: May 11 in Kansas City, Missouri; May 13 in Riverdale, Maryland; and May 17 in Denver, Colorado. The meetings are free and open to the public.

Click here for more on the new Animal Disease Traceability Framework.

Click here for the meeting schedule and locations.

Lovers Retreat Farm and Dairy

Lovers Retreat Farm and licensed Grade A Dairy is located on the historic Middle Peninsula of eastern Virginia.  Started as a homestead in 1984, the farm has evolved to include a dairy facility for goats—scattered across the pastures they roam nibbling on grass free of pesticides and herbicides.  At Lovers Retreat Farm owner Cynthia Wilson strongly believes that the only way to produce quality farmstead goat cheese is to have happy, healthy goats.  She monitors their health daily, keeping detailed records as they are milked.  The result is quality artisanal cheeses with exceptional flavor guaranteed by using only the fresh hormone and antibiotic-free milk from the herd. These high standards have enabled Cynthia to win several awards for her cheeses and achieve the high animal welfare requirements set by Animal Welfare Approved.

The future of high-welfare, environmentally and financially sustainable livestock farming is brighter than industrialized agriculture would have us believe, says a panel of experts convening on May 4, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. in Washington, DC for a public discussion, “Green Pastures, Bright Future: Taking the Meat We Eat Out of the Factory and Putting it Back on the Farm.” The panel discussion is presented by Animal Welfare Approved in cooperation with the Pew Environment Group.

Participating on the panel are investigative journalist and author of Animal Factory David Kirby; author of the bestselling Righteous Porkchop Nicolette Hahn Niman; chicken farmer and whistle-blower in the Oscar-nominated documentary “Food, Inc.” Carole Morison;  and rancher, veterinarian and president of the American Grassfed Association, Dr. Patricia Whisnant. The discussion will be moderated by Andrew Gunther, program director for Animal Welfare Approved.

“The growth of the Animal Welfare Approved certification program alone points to the success of family farmers who use pasture-based, humane and environmentally responsible methods,” says Gunther. “Our panelists are those who have led the way and are committed to farming that is based in the wisdom of the past and the best practices of the present. They are some of the most knowledgeable people in the field, with extraordinary insight into the past and present of sustainable livestock farming, and we are looking forward to a lively and stimulating dialogue on an issue that affects all of us.”

For more information, please see the press release.

To RSVP please click here.

Please help us spread the word by distributing the event flyer!

Rick Dove is just one of the ordinary citizens-turned-activists that Kirby follows in Animal Factory, and he wisely lets the power of their stories drive the narrative. For Rick Dove of New Bern, North Carolina, Helen Reddout of Yakima Valley, Washington and Karen Hudson of Elmwood, Illinois, farming originally meant what we’ve all been taught to believe—happy animals standing in lush grasses with a welcoming red barn in the background. It’s not until Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, known as CAFOs, move nearby, complete with stench and large manure spills, that they begin to realize what today’s industrialized agriculture really represents. Polluted fields and waterways, cruelly confined and mistreated animals, dreadful working conditions, fish kills, stink, illness.

Kirby is an experienced investigative reporter, Huffington Post contributor and the author of Evidence of Harm, an investigation into the possible link between mercury in vaccines and autism. For the latter he won the 2005 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. In Animal Factory he skillfully weaves the personal and political to expose a world where profit and efficiency come at a steep price to people, animals and land. In Kirby’s capable hands, Animal Factory reads like a political thriller, but the stakes are hardly imaginary.

Corporate agriculture maintains that you can’t feed the world, much less the United States, without CAFOs to make meat, dairy and eggs plentiful and affordable. While Michael Pollan and others have talked about the “true” cost of food, Animal Factory plainly illuminates the incomprehensibility of industrialized animal farming. It’s a system where seemingly no one but the parent company profits yet all are at risk. Not only do the regions where CAFOs are located experience an alarming rise in pollution and reciprocal loss of quality of life, but the systems lead to increased and more deadly risk to humans from diseases such as antibiotic resistant E. coli and mad cow disease (BSE).

At its core, Animal Factory is a personal story—a story of individuals coming together to protect their land, the health of their community, the dignity of the farm animals and the safety of the nation’s food supply. Kirby uses the activists’ stories as the backbone of his book, weaving in science, statistics and politics to enhance but not overwhelm the reader’s experience. No doubt it’s been an unwelcome surprise to industrialized agriculture that three such disparate people as Rick, Karen and Helen would ever find each other, much less build a movement that is forcing them to be accountable, but they did. Using their compelling stories, Kirby shines a light into the dark corners of industrialized agriculture and what he finds isn’t pretty.