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Just do itBy Trent Loos It may seem that every call to action is bigger and more important than the last one I issued, but if you eat food this one is imperative for you. For right at a year now Valley Meat in Roswell, N.M., has been requesting an inspector for their horse harvesting plant and the USDA simply refuses despite any justification other than to say "we don't want to." Excuse me! The United States Department of Agriculture can choose to not follow the law simply because they don't want to. How would that work for the rest of us? Blair Dunn, the attorney representing Rick de los Santos, has filed a lawsuit against the USDA for failure to provide an inspector despite the fact that Valley Meat has met all the requirements previously put forth by the USDA in order for inspector to be on site. As a side note, Valley Meat has now spent hundreds of thousands of dollars developing this plant in response to the serious need for a market for otherwise unwanted horses and the demand for horse meat. As the lawsuit hits the court system, the Humane Society of the United States and Front Range Equine Rescue both filed for a petition to intervene in the case on behalf of the USDA. It is now glaringly apparent that the USDA is quite content to allow this to happen and allow HSUS to use their extensive financial resources to defend the case on their behalf. At some point somebody is going to have spend more time truly investigating the relationship between USDA/Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and the world's wealthiest animal rights organization--HSUS. Just a quick reminder that HSUS invested a fairly sizable amount of money in a failed attempt to get Vilsack's wife Christie elected in the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa. While I don't want to bore you with legal language, this motion filed by Dunn on behalf of Valley Meat in the case against USDA must be distributed far and wide: "Plaintiff reiterates its respectful request that the Court scrutinize the claimed interests of HSUS in this limited issue of whether or not USDA has violated the law giving rise to a claim by Plaintiff under the APA. Plaintiffs would offer that in reality the interests claimed by HSUS have actually previously impaired by Congress. "And HSUS at this point is trying to assert claimed interests that were unpersuasive to Congress in its directives to USDA to proceed with inspections of horses under the Federal Meat Inspection Act. HSUS has repeatedly and constantly offered that their interest with regard to this matter is to stop the harvesting of horses in the United States completely. "Of course, requiring USDA to comply with that directive of Congress to issue Grants of Inspection will adversely affect their interest. And of course, USDA will not adequately represent their interests. This is because the interests of Defendants are not defendable by USDA, nor justiciable by this Court by virtue of the extremely important fact that Congress has already decided against their interest." The time for action is NOW, not tomorrow. Action needs to be taken today! If the USDA and HSUS are as cozy as they appear to be, any and all laws about milk, meat and egg production are subject to their discretion. If you appreciate and rely on food from American soil to enable your life and that of your family, then you need to find a way to intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of Valley Meat. Contact me or Blair Dunn today. Do not delay. The more grassroots support we garner, the stronger our case against the one governmental entity that is supposed to be working for and with those of us in agriculture. It's time to turn this ship around. Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or email Trent at trentloos@gmail.com. Date: 2/4/2013
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