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Animal agriculture faces challenges from activistsBy Jennifer M. Latzke
If animal rights activists have their way, meat would be a luxury item for the masses, according to Steve Kopperud, senior vice president of Policy Directions, Inc., a Washington, D.C. advocate for food animal and crop production. Kopperud spoke to members of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association at their meeting Nov. 4, in Grapevine, Texas, about the ultimate agenda of animal rights activists and the challenges farm and ranch interests face in educating urban consumers. Kopperud explained to TCFA members that if the leaders of PETA and the Humane Society of the United States get their ways, cattlemen will revert back to producing for small niche markets, and animal husbandry methods that their grandparents used. "The average activist thinks that the producer needs to quit using drugs, and feedlots that crowd cattle in pens without shade should be gone, and we should give up on technology--period," he said. Unless there is a veterinarian on staff, activists would prefer that cattlemen not dispense livestock drugs in efforts to prevent disease or increase production, he added. And, if any new biotechnological advancements are made down the road, they shouldn't be embraced, either, Kopperud said. "The single greatest enemy we must defeat is the Humane Society of the United States," he said. HSUS has a distinct advantage in the animal rights movement, Kopperud explained, because people think it's affiliated with local humane shelters, and it's not. Also, HSUS long ago adopted a step approach to advancing animal rights agendas. "A little bit of a change eventually equals major change," Kopperud said. "If we can't legislate or regulate you out of business, we'll make it so expensive that you'll have to go out of business." Cattlemen must unite to combat the HSUS message and to support the retailers who are under attack from activists. Kopperud explained that retailers and restaurants, like Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King, are prime targets for activist activities. When these businesses are under attack, their primary objective is to protect their brands, and so they are more than likely to give in to demands from animal rights activists rather than risking the brand. It's important, therefore, for cattlemen and their organizations to reopen dialogues with large retailers. "We're not talking to retailers and telling them if they are attacked we will stand by them and in front of them," Kopperud said. "We need to be an ally, a partner." Of particular concern for cattlemen should be just who is advising the next U.S. president and other politicians on matters of animal agriculture, especially when more and more are further removed from agriculture. Kopperud cited the recent interview of then presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama in Time magazine. In the article Obama cited Michael Pollan, a journalism professor at UC-Berkley, linking agriculture to health problems and global warming. Kopperud explained that Pollan, and others like him, believe increasing market prices of beef and other animal proteins would result in a rationing of the product. "People would eat less, and their health and the environment would improve," he said. "Eventually there would be an end to consumption due to a change in the culture." The fact is, Kopperud said, agriculture hasn't been on the screen of the politicians this election cycle, and that is dangerous to the interests of modern production agriculture. And, the presidential candidates are listening to people who don't "get it." "If I'm in D.C. and all I read is the New York Times or the Washington Post, my view of agriculture is as distorted as it can be," Kopperud said. "The next four years is going to be a watershed for American agriculture." He added that most politicians view agriculture as an "industry" rather than the "individual producer." "The image of agriculture must change," Kopperud said. Today politicians think of agriculture as J.B. Swift or Cargill, and farmers and ranchers as factories, he said. "With a new president we have a clean slate and we have to write boldly in these next four years or we won't recognize the industry in eight." He told Texas cattlemen the best thing a President Barack Obama could do for agriculture would be to nominate former Rep. Charlie Stenholm as Secretary of Agriculture because he's one Democrat who works across the aisle and who "gets" modern agriculture. Animal production will face many challenges in the next decade and chief among them will be the challenge of educating an urban populace that doesn't understand farming and ranching, he said. Kopperud cited the case of Proposition 2 on the California ballot, which makes confined animal production illegal in the state, and which voters eventually approved. "The urban population has a firm belief that there is no cost in these changes," Kopperud said. "The American public is accustomed to a cheap and convenient food supply and they take for granted that it will always be there and at a price they can afford." With an economic downturn, people can no longer afford to shop at natural foods stores and pay three to four times more for organic groceries. "The two primary organic food stores in New York City saw a 22 percent drop in their sales in the last four months," Kopperud said. There is no scientific basis for claims that organic or natural foods are better for consumers, yet purchasers feel less guilty, he added. And, no one realizes that 70 percent of organic food in supermarkets across the U.S. is imported. "We don't have the land in the U.S., or on the planet, to raise enough fruits and vegetables to feed 7 billion people," Kopperud said. "Two-thirds of our land mass will not support crops; it's only grass. And we use grazing cattle to convert that grass into protein." He added that producers must take their messages to the media because they are the most credible sources on just where food comes from. "This is a key quality of life issue," Kopperud added. "No one sells agriculture better than the American agriculturist." Kopperud ended by reminding cattlemen that this isn't just a beef issue, but a pork and poultry and lamb issue, as well. "If they can take down pork, and poultry and sheep, they will take down beef, even as big as you are," he said. "We kill and eat 7 billion animals a year. Complacency has no place in this issue." Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached at 620-227-1807, or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com. 11/17/08 Date: 11/13/08
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