Many farmers raising birds for meat operate under the 1,000 bird exemption, meaning that they are not required to have an inspector on-site at the time of processing. However food safety is even more important for the small farmer than it is for a large plant, and sanitation, biosecurity and recordkeeping were emphasized as important tools to ensure a safe product for the consumer. A very knowledgeable and gracious staff from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, including Don Delozier, State Director for the NCDA&CS Meat and Poultry Inspection Division and Compliance Officer Melanie Pollard, presented on the relevant regulations for on-farm processing, how to comply and where to go for more information. The attendance of state officials was sincerely appreciated and added a great deal to the workshop. The information learned will not only help to ensure that farmers are upholding the highest standards of food safety, but will also help them avoid costly mistakes. Composting Specialist Brian Rosa from the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources talked about how to properly compost processing waste while maintaining environmental quality and complying with state regulations. This engagement of state officials with farmers at the on-farm level was a much appreciated gesture of openness and approachability. As one farmer told us, “It was the information I needed.” To find out about future workshops and events, sign up for the AWA email list, join us on Facebook or visit our Upcoming Events page.

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!

Entitled, “Where’s the Local Beef?,” the report describes an  monopolistic industry that favors large operations at the expense of smaller ones. Despite a large number of small start-ups, the authors note that most of these will go out of business. The current regulatory and industrial climate is just not designed for independent slaughter plants – existing or planned.

Among the obstacles faced by smaller plants (defined as having fewer than 500 employees) are: scale-inappropriate regulations, lack of skilled personnel, and a near absence of competition in the industry.  For instance in 2005, the top four beef-packing companies controlled over 80% of the market. Highlighting numerous interviews with independent plant owners, the report offers insight into the daily challenges faced by this important component of our local food economies. Finally, the authors offer suggestions and recommendations to facilitate their growth. Download the entire report here.

In a major move for the Obama administration, the US Department of Justice (Antitrust Division) and the US Department of Agriculture have opened an investigation into whether any illegal monopolies exist among the dominant agricultural companies.

The focus is primarily on three sectors: seed companies, beef packing and dairy. With a history of exemption from antitrust regulation, the industry as a whole has become extremely concentrated. This concentration is measured in terms of “CR4,” or concentration ratio (relative to 100%) of the top four firms in a specific food industry.

For instance, in beef packing, the top four companies (listed below with daily processing capacities) control 83.5% of the market.

1. Tyson (36,000 head/day)

2. Cargill (28,300 head/day)

3. Swift & Co. (16,759 head/day)

4. National Beef Packing Co. (13,000 head/day)

Source: Concentration of Agricultural Markets, April 2007, Mary Hendrickson and William Heffernan.

Similar levels exist in other agricultural sectors, including pork processing and genetically modified seed technology. This lack of competition has had serious implications for the independent producer; in any other industry it would be a red flag. Perhaps the recent banking crisis has shed some light? In the words of our friend at Rural Advancement Foundation International, Scott Marlow, “If they’re too big to fail, they’re too big. Enforce antitrust.” Spoken at Farm Aid this past October, his call to action challenged the audience, “Now is the time and here is the place. If not us, who, if not now, when?” Regardless of the cause of this shift in focus, we predict a heated debate and a wide range of opinions on the subject. To voice yours, follow the directions on the DOJ website to submit your comments in hard copy or electronic form.

You can also contribute to the discussion in person. As part of this investigation, a series of workshops will be held across the country to “promote dialogue among interested parties and foster learning with respect to the appropriate legal and economic analyses of these issues, as well as to listen to and learn from parties with experience in the agriculture sector.” A schedule of the workshops is listed below, please see the aforementioned DOJ website for detailed information and physical locations.

Dates, Locations and Topics

March 12, 2009 – Ankeny, Iowa

Issues of Concern to Farmers

Introduction to the workshops series with a focus on the issues facing crop farmers. Discussion topics may include seed technology, vertical integration, market transparency and buyer power.

May 21, 2010 – Normal, Alabama

Poultry Industry

Discussion topics may include production contracts in the poultry industry, concentration and buyer power.

June 7, 2010 – Madison, Wisconsin

Dairy Industry

Discussion topics may include concentration, marketplace transparency and vertical integration in the dairy industry.

August 26, 2010 – Fort Collins, Colorado

Livestock Industry

This workshop will focus on beef, hog and other animal sectors. Topics may include enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act and concentration.

December 8, 2010 – Washington, D.C.

Margins

This workshop will look at the discrepancies between the prices received by farmers and the prices paid by consumers. As a concluding event, discussions from previous workshops will be incorporated into the analysis of agriculture markets nationally.

In a recent post we discussed the ruling currently under construction at the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) which would allow certain state-inspected slaughter plants to perform federal inspections on meat and poultry. The comment period has been extended, and we invite anyone who has an interest in this to add your two cents to the discussion (instructions below). This ruling could have tremendous implications for livestock farmers using independent, state-inspected plants who are now limited to selling product within state lines, and could dramatically expand their marketing capabilities. Cooperative inspection has the potential not only to benefit independent farmers and slaughter plants, but could have positive animal welfare implications through reduced transport time.

From the FSIS website:

FSIS is extending the comment period for an additional 30 days for its proposed rule to allow interstate shipment of meat and poultry products produced in selected state-inspected establishments. The proposed rule, Cooperative Inspection Programs; Interstate Shipment of Meat and Poultry Products, was published in the Federal Register on Sept. 16. FSIS is now allowing interested parties until Dec. 16 to prepare and submit comments for the proposed rule.

All submissions received must reference docket number FSIS-2008-0039. The proposed rule is posted on the FSIS Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/2009_Proposed_Rules_Index/index.asp. [See "Cooperative Inspection Programs."]

Comments may also be sent to the Docket Clerk, USDA, FSIS, Room 2-2127, George Washington Carver Center, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705. Submissions can also be made through the Federal e-rulemaking portal at www.regulations.gov.

The transcript and audio file for the Nov. 5 interstate shipment teleconference have been posted on the FSIS Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/past_events/index.asp.

I got an email a few days ago with a link to footage taken at a Vermont slaughter plant. I often receive videos depicting horrific animal treatment, but this one stood out.  The footage I was sent showed veal calves—only days old—unable to walk or stand on their own, repeatedly kicked, slapped and shocked.

Once again, we have sickening proof that there are people who just don’t get it. In a civilized society we have to do things right. The USDA, despite the industry’s best efforts, does have rules that cover some parts of a slaughter plant operation. Slaughter plants that operate like this can’t hide anymore. People are no longer satisfied with being spoon-fed lies about production practices that are “in our best interests”; the consumer is educated, interested and is paying attention.

What makes these incidents particularly horrific is these workers surely know that a calf only days old needs to be lifted and carried. A newborn calf spends the early part of its life gaining strength by sleeping and lying down.

The law prohibits “downers” (cattle that can’t walk on their own) from entering the food chain, putting into motion a nice, big Catch 22—a young calf cannot be slaughtered if it can’t  stand up but it cannot stand up because it’s physically unable to. Enter stage right, the guy who sets about administering electric shocks, kicking the animals and screaming. He does this because the system he works in has taught him to believe that kicking and screaming and inflicting pain will motivate a calf who can’t stand up, to stand up. The video graphically displays the failure of his belief.

In perhaps the very definition of dereliction of duty, an inspector stands and watches as a calf–who because of poor management and zero thought process, has not been stunned or killed–has its skin peeled off. It defies reason. What on earth stopped the inspector, at the first sign of the calf’s sentience, from having the animal instantly stunned? As the law, by the way, requires.

I am proud to say we have many slaughter plants in the AWA program that take their job seriously and would never allow these violations; they have respect for the animals, the staff and consumers. What I am disappointed in is that we still need HSUS to show us that there are still some who just don’t get it. Well done HSUS—we don’t need these people representing American farmers and slaughter plants.

If you want to do something, write to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and ask him to enforce the regulations already in place.  If he doesn’t there will be no farm animal program for him to oversee—public outrage can and will bring an end to pitiless slaughter to the detriment of all farmers. Those who do it right don’t deserve to be painted with the same brush as those who clearly don’t know what is wrong.

Watch the video (Warning: graphic, violent and disturbing images)

Are things changing? Read Jane Black’s recent Washington Post story, “Veal, cast in a kinder light,” for more about the renaissance of humane veal in the United States.

Many of the farmers in our program are located near a large metropolitan market just out-of-state. Currently these farmers must either limit their marketing to in-state buyers or travel to a federally inspected plant, which may not be the closest one. This can result in added transport stress on the animals being processed, and unnecessary hassle on the farmer. We hope that with this new regulation farmers will be able to use the closest plant and sell to the closest market – improving animal welfare, reducing emissions and opening up new markets for independent farmers.

According to the FSIS press release, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Jerold Mande said, “This new cooperative interstate shipment program will provide new economic opportunities for many small and very small meat and poultry establishments, whose markets are currently limited. We can provide new markets for these establishments, while maintaining the integrity of the Federal mark of inspection.” While the proposed ruling promises to open and develop these new markets, we sincerely hope that continued funding and attention is given to this program.

View the proposed regulations and submit your comments at Regulations.gov. Comments will be accepted through November 16, 2009.

This resource should be helpful, providing information on processing regulations, mobile processing units, and marketing information. Please see the topics contained in main menu from the website (below).
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Mobile Slaughter/Processing Units

Here’s Program Director Andrew Gunther’s response:

It never ceases to amaze me the depths human beings will go to.

Footage released this week exposed downed cows being repeatedly shocked with electric prods and dragged while still alive at an auction facility in Portales, New Mexico. This follows closely on the heels of another welfare-related investigation in Chino, California, which led to the largest beef recall in history.

Regarding the most recent incident in Portales. The auction manager stated that there were policies in place to prevent such abuses from occurring. If these are his policies, I suggest he be immediately removed from his post. This is the type of deeply entrenched indifference that allowed the most recent horrors to occur under the watch of New Mexico brand inspectors, none of whom spoke out against it.

Most meat-eaters in America would not be willing to kick a cow in the head repeatedly or drag it by forklift until its hind leg was hyper-extended. Most meat-eaters in American would not be willing to use an electric prod on a cow too weak to rise. But they will unwittingly pay someone else to do it. That is what keeps ground beef at $3.59 a pound, and that is what prompts auction houses and slaughter facilities to handle as many animals as possible-and not as humanely as possible.

Patrick Boyle, President of the American Meat Institute, called the treatment “inexplicable.” I would disagree. When workers are trained in an environment that values total pounds processed over animal welfare, and when enforcement of existing regulations is spotty at best, it is easy to see how this could happen. Bad becomes normal, and it takes a public outcry for these all-too-common abuses to be reexamined.

I have seen some horrific things. But I have never seen anything as inhumane as the American meat industry. We are allegedly a “developed” nation, however we treat our animals in a way that would horrify many in the third world. We have the chance to change this and I believe we can.

While we wait patiently for the meat industry and the USDA to regulate themselves, consumers have another option. There are farmers in every region who treat their animals with humanity and care. Seek them out and show them that conscientious farming is valuable, to the animals and the consumer.

You can make a difference.

Andrew Gunther
Program Director
Animal Welfare Approved