We’re Headed to Slow Food
August 28, 2008 on 6:43 am | By beth | In Family Farms, Slow Food Nation | No Comments
We hope to see you in San Francisco this weekend for the nation’s first major Slow Food Gathering. Please find listed below the events our staff will be participating in. We would love to meet you, so please join us. We would also appreciate if you would forward this to people you know in the Bay Area. Thanks for helping us to spread the word.
There are still some tickets available to our Slow Food Dinner at Woodward’s Garden. It promises to be a marvelous, intimate dinner where you will get to meet our staff and a few of our special farmers. (See below for more details.) To purchase tickets to our dinner please call (703) 836-4300.
WHERE TO FIND US THIS WEEKEND
Friday, August 29
1:30 pm
Market and Farmer Outreach Associate Sarah Willis shares tales from the field and the truth about food labels during a Soapbox presentation (Slow Food Nation Victory Garden).
2:45 pm
Animal Welfare Approved Program Director Andrew Gunther will speak on a Grass-Fed Beef panel as a part of the Changemakers’s Day series.
2:45 pm
Animal Welfare Approved Good Shepherd turkey farmer Brian Anselmo will participate on a Changemaker’s panel entitled “Heritage or Hogwash.”
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Animal Welfare Approved staff members will be on the Farmer’s Marketplace grounds distributing free re-usable grocery tote bags.
11:00 am - 9:00 pm
Meet us in the Charcuterie section of the Taste Pavilion, where we’ll be sharing stories of high-welfare, sustainable family farms.
Saturday, August 30
3:00 pm
Program Director for Animal Welfare Approved, Andrew Gunther, talks about how consumers are misled by food labels and how third-party, independent certification can provide answers for those seeking assurances about where their food comes from and how it is produced. (Slow Food Nation Victory Garden)
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Animal Welfare Approved staff members will be on the Marketplace grounds distributing free re-usable grocery bags.
11:00 am - 9:00 pm
Meet us in the Charcuterie in the Taste Pavilion, where we’ll be sharing stories of high-welfare, sustainable family farms.
Sunday, August 31
1:30 pm
Emily Lancaster, Farm and Market Outreach Coordinator for Animal Welfare Approved, talks about the term “family farm” and how consumers’ perception of this phrase differs from the actual practices on most farms. (Slow Food Nation Victory Garden)
SLOW DINNER
6:30 pm Dinner (includes reception 6:30-7:30)
Woodward’s Garden
1700 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA
$125 (Dinner)
Join us for a collaboration between Woodward’s Garden, a San Francisco gem known for its intimate hospitality and expert preparation, and Animal Welfare Approved.
This dinner-from-the-field will feature award-winning pork from Niman Ranch, the first farmer network to receive Animal Welfare Approved accreditation. The evening provides the opportunity to hear directly from Animal Welfare Approved’s outstanding farmers, including Niman Ranch’s own Paul Willis (founder and manager of Niman Ranch pork division and free-range pig farmer) and Will Harris (White Oak Pastures; fifth generation grass-fed cattle farmer). These stewards of the land will share their experiences in practicing humane husbandry, and explain how tradition and innovation have shaped their farming practices today. The reception and dinner will feature wine donated by Beringer, a California winery known for its commitment to sustainable agriculture, and will also include light hors d’œuvres. 15% of every ticket sold will benefit the Animal Welfare Approved program.
Tickets for the Reception and Slow Dinner are purchased separately. To purchase tickets for the Slow Dinner ($125.00) please contact Julie Munk at (703) 836-4300.
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Animal Welfare Approved staff members will be on the Marketplace grounds distributing free re-usable grocery bags.
11:00 am - 9:00 pm
Meet us in the Charcuterie in the Taste Pavilion, where we’ll be sharing stories of high-welfare, sustainable family farms.
Sticker Shock
August 25, 2008 on 10:19 am | By beth | In Factory Farms, The Big Picture | No CommentsPaul Roberts, author of The End of Food, recently wrote an opinion piece for the L.A. Times called “The True Cost of Steak” on the effects of factory-farmed meat production. Roberts’ opinion rests heavily on research published in the Pew Report “Putting Meat on the Table”, a monumental testament to the consequences of cheap meat, and what the livestock industry would look like if we were to truly pay the costs of production. This report is a must-read for anyone interested in the current state of meat production and seeking a possible route beyond it. Not surprisingly, the Pew report advocates small-scale pasture-based farming, with an emphasis on the elimination of subtherapeautic antibiotic use. Roberts dances around this controversial issue, but it has been said before: maybe we don’t really need as much meat as we eat? If the livestock industry were to pass the true costs on to consumers (pollution, threatened food safety and antibiotic resistance), we wouldn’t have a choice. Perhaps if we ate less - but better meat, we could in effect have our cake and eat it too.
It’s What’s For Dinner
August 22, 2008 on 3:20 pm | By beth | In Factory Farms, Grass-Fed Beef, The Big Picture | 1 CommentA recent video posted by the Wall Street Journal shows a new way cattle producers are cutting feed costs: chocolate. Faced with skyrocketing corn prices, conventional animal feeding operations are searching for a cheaper way to pack on the pounds. This has led to the practice of feeding animals waste from food processing (the by-products determined unfit for human consumption). This practice is not limited to cattle; another article in the Wall Street Journal cites trail mix on the menu for pigs in North Carolina, tater tots in Iowa, and and “wafer trimmings” from Kit Kat bars in Pennsylvania. Continue reading It’s What’s For Dinner…
Animal Welfare Approved on SlowFoodNation.org
August 15, 2008 on 10:07 pm | By beth | In Slow Food Nation, The Big Picture | No CommentsAs part of our partnership with Slow Food Nation, we were invited to write a guest post for the Slow Food Nation Blog. Take a look at Program Director Andrew Gunther’s recent post on Slow Food Nation’s weblog.
Cage Free: More Complicated Than You Think
August 12, 2008 on 4:59 pm | By beth | In Factory Farms | 1 CommentPart of the objective of our blog is to encourage educated discussion about farm animal welfare. Here are three recent articles that discuss California’s Proposition 2, and some of the issues surrounding it. One article by David Sneed summarizes the debate and its political implications. Another article in the Arizona Republic describes cage free vs. confined, and another in the New York Times speaks to the increasing demand for eggs from cage-free production systems.
A “proposition” that is often left out of the issue, however, is the possibility of many smaller, pasture-based farms. More and more consumers and farmers are learning about the environmental and health benefits of eggs from hens on pasture. Feel free to comment on the articles above, or suggest one for further reading!
Animal Welfare Approved Dinner at Slow Food Nation
August 6, 2008 on 5:18 pm | By beth | In Slow Food Nation | No CommentsWe are excited to partner with Slow Food Nation in the first-ever American gathering this Labor Day weekend in San Francisco. Slow Food is a vibrant movement of people who advocate food systems that are good, clean and fair-goals we also support in our promotion of high-welfare husbandry. We will be involved in many events throughout the weekend, and will continue to post these on our blog as they develop.
Sunday, August 31, 2008: Join us for a fund-raising “Slow Dinner” for Animal Welfare Approved, to be held at Woodward’s Garden-a San Francisco gem known for its intimate hospitality and expert preparation.
This dinner-from-the-field will feature award-winning pork from Niman Ranch, the first farmer network to receive Animal Welfare Approved accreditation. Continue reading Animal Welfare Approved Dinner at Slow Food Nation…
“Routine” Different From “Humane” Says New Jersey Court
August 3, 2008 on 12:41 pm | By beth | In The Big Picture | No CommentsLast Wednesday, a New Jersey court ruled that certain industrial farming practices, such as tail-docking and de-beaking without anesthesia, cannot be considered humane just because they are widely used. This signals another development in the national conversation on the treatment of animals used for food. While many states have strict laws preventing animal cruelty, farm animals are often exempt from this protection.
Click here to read the full article.
Is the U.S. Importing Mad Cow Disease?
July 30, 2008 on 11:50 am | By beth | In Food Safety | 1 CommentA recent audit of the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) revealed that cows from Canada have been entering the country without being properly inspected. Consequently, concerns have been raised that mad cow disease may have been imported along with the undocumented cows. And because the Bush Administration does not want meatpackers conducting their own private testing for mad cow disease, this threat to public health/food safety is simply a disaster waiting to happen.* Further complicating matters, the under-funded and understaffed USDA has no idea where these cows have ended up because of record-keeping errors made by APHIS.
While this story is newsworthy, it should not come as a surprise to anyone. This last year has been an extremely embarrassing and frightening one for United States agriculture. With the recent Humane Slaughter Act violations, the widespread distribution of downer cattle meat for children’s school lunches and the largest meat recall in American history all occurring in the last seven months, it has become clear that major changes have to made within the American agricultural industry. Continue reading Is the U.S. Importing Mad Cow Disease?…
New Study on Grass-Fed Beef
July 28, 2008 on 4:19 pm | By beth | In Grass-Fed Beef | No CommentsRead about a recent research study confirming that consumers like the taste of 100% grass-fed, pasture-raised beef.
Study Shows Consumers Find Grass-Fed Beef Acceptable
By Jeff Muhollem
PSU Ag Science News
July 28, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK - High feed-grain prices and the growing interest in “natural” foods have spurred both consumers and farmers to consider grass-fed beef, and a recent study done by Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences researchers may reinforce this trend.
What about eggs from pasture-based farms?
July 21, 2008 on 8:19 am | By beth | In Factory Farms | No Comments
On November 4, 2008, Californians will vote on the “Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act.” The purpose of this act, as cited by the Attorney General, is to “prohibit the cruel confinement of farm animals in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs.” An industry-backed coalition, “Californians for SAFE Food” officially launched a campaign against this proposition, calling it “risky” and “dangerous.” A recent article in Marketwatch quotes Julie Buckner, opposition campaign spokeswoman, as saying, “It undermines California’s current high food safety standards, putting us a greater risk with exposure to illness and disease like Salmonella and Bird Flu.” The opposition campaign also claims that the proposition “undermines California’s scientifically-developed, modern egg production systems, which are safe, sound and healthy for hens and humans alike.”
The following is a response from Animal Welfare Approved Program Director Andrew Gunther:
I have always smiled as the industry tells us about this scientific approach to farming; I would also like to 
take a scientific approach to this response. All science starts with a question. In this case, if we ask, “What is the most welfare-positive way to keep a chicken that lays eggs?” The answer, based on current research, would not be cages.
However if we asked, “What is the cheapest, least labor-intensive and most profitable system that ignores the birds’ basic needs?”…battery cages would come out on top.
Sadly, the industry has to use staged arguments for protecting brutal industrial systems. The reality is that the people most affected will be owners of the large egg producing companies who will no longer be able to harvest huge fortunes off the back of cheap labor, and who will not be able to cut costs through the incarceration and mutilation of millions of chickens.
The opposition campaign cites a fear that Californians, unable to get cheap, factory-produced eggs from their own state, will instead buy eggs from Mexico.
Here’s another idea–what about eggs from pasture-based farms in California? This act would not take into effect until 2015–ample time for local California farms to meet demand. The nutritional benefits of eggs from pastured hens is well-documented–higher Omega 3’s, more “good” cholesterol, and they taste better. This opposition campaign is not designed to protect people or hens, but to protect the market share of industrial egg producers.
There is no evidence to suggest that wild birds present a bigger risk than humans in the spread of Avian Influenza. To the contrary, recent epidemiological studies have shown Avian Influenza is being introduced by workers or visitors, either ignorant or unmotivated to carry out appropriate biosecurity procedures. There are hidden costs to our cheap food. Animal cruelty is one, but disease is another. Salmonella is a disease of industrialization and the poultry industry has managed to invent some new strains for us.
We have to ask: in a progressive, “modern” society, why do we seem to keep our food animal production in the dark ages? Sadly in the case of laying hens, I mean this quite literally. I encourage consumers in California to read this proposition, and to question whether enough space to “turn around freely” is as radical as the opposition would have them believe. I am inclined to think not.
Take Action
Flickr Feed
