Via our friends at Food Democracy Now and Fight Big Ag Now on Twitter comes stunning news this morning out of Ohio. A compromise deal between Ohio farmers, the governor, and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has been struck to phase out several contentious yet widespread livestock practices, such as battery cages for poultry and hog gestation crates. Here’s the story from Farm & Dairy:
The Humane Society of the United States, [Ohio] Gov. Ted Strickland and Jack Fisher, executive vice president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, announced a compromise has been reached between the organizations. There will be no ballot initiative regarding livestock on the November ballot.
In a surprise move, Strickland held a press conference to announce the deal late in the afternoon June 30, the date when the HSUS was supposed to hand over the signatures to the secretary of state’s office for the proposed ballot initiative.
The HSUS website has the details of the agreement:
The agreement includes recommendations from all of the parties for the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Care Board, the Legislature, and the Governor to adopt the following provisions:
- A ban on veal crates by 2017…
- A ban on new gestation crates in the state after Dec. 31, 2010. Existing facilities are grandfathered, but must cease use of these crates within 15 years.
- A moratorium on permits for new battery cage confinement facilities for laying hens.
- A ban on strangulation of farm animals and mandatory humane euthanasia methods for sick or injured animals.
- A ban on the transport of downer cows for slaughter.
(The agreement also addressed cockfighting, keeping exotic animals as pets, and “puppy mills.”)
The huge irony here is that the the Ohio Livestock Board (which was created after “ballot two” passed in last November’s elections) was presumably going to prevent HSUS intiatives like this. HSUS had racked up a string of victories, getting battery cages and gestation crates banned in California, most notably, and Ohio ag seemed to think the Livestock Board would provide a panel of experts to field such bans and proposals.
Not so much.
Jack Fisher, vice president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, says that a fight with HSUS this year would be costly, so this agreement prevents that. It also prevents another ballot initiative from placing mandates on the Livestock Board to carry out stricter bans on practices mentioned above.
The integrity of the Livestock Board is certainly what was at stake in this agreement. The point of creating it, after all, was to have ag expertise fielding ag matters (like farm animal welfare), so to a degree, this is keeps “ballot two” in the win column for Ohio ag.
But it also forces the adoption of practices that ag in Ohio clearly hoped to avoid. What happened there? Fisher said something about that in the above interview, a point I’d like to underscore. He said that the agreement would help maintain “a strong business climate” in Ohio. To me, this the Ohio Farm Bureau seeing the writing on the wall, that the market is heading toward bold changes in how meat is produced in this country — and it’s an game-changing admission. With Kroger, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, and Wendy’s all asking producers to change how they raise livestock, farmers in Ohio needed to stay abreast of changes in their industry, and the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation veep seemed to understand that.
It might not feel like it right now to “agvocates,” but this is compromise is going to prove to be a boon for farmers in Ohio.
How do you envision a boon in Ohio’s animal ag industry in the next say 5 years and following?
Kevin
If the Ohio Livestock Board wound up blocking these changes, as originally hoped by the Farm Bureau and other ag professionals (yes?), I think Ohio farmers would have been in danger of the market seeking crate-free pork and battery-free egs from farmers in other states. As is, the Farm Bureau is not simply avoiding a fight with HSUS, they’re ensuring that Ohio farmers aren’t left behind.
The next 5 to 10 years? Personally, I think there’s a deep entrenching of organic/sustainable/natural foods in the market place during this economic downturn. It blows me away, actually. I’ve been involved in the natural foods market for almost 20 years, Kevin, and I’m totally astonished that there’s any stomach for premium priced natural foods, let alone the piqued interest we’re seeing, with the state that the market’s in. If and when the economy rebounds, I think there’s going to be explosive new growth in natural foods, and the farmers and food producers who are poised to take advantage of that are going to do very well.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess you see things different.
What’s your take?
Well Barth, First we cannot begin to speculate what the Ohio Anminal care board would do. Secondly the assumption that a crate-free managment is inevitable, is just that, an assumption. The market I see for a crate-free pork product will most likely be for m the same group that sees organically produced products as being far supperior than non- organic. I may be wrong, but when I walk through the local grocery store, I see the majority of the shoppers looking for the better value in food choices. There is nothing different with organically produced vs non organic when it comes to nutritional value. When the cost of cage-free or crate-free poultry or pork products are 20% higher in cost at the supermarket, I feel that may be a bit too steep for some to bear.
As far as what the next 5 – 10 years will bring? I think it has the possibility to blow our minds in both directions. There will continue to be the demand for the so called “natural foods” but leads to the question…what is un-natural about food? (other than the “junk foods”) But as economies continue to tighten and more and more of our income goes towards food purchases, I think there will be a shift from “junk foods” and a shift from premium priced foods. We are extremely fortunate in this country that very very few of us have ever experience true hunger. We all know where and when our next meal will come. Back to my best guess for the next 5 – 10 years. If technology is halted and pulled back, I envision more people in this country becoming hungry. Productivity on all fronts will falter, the amount of land and resources required to put food on the table will increase, resources that we continue to lose every day. Resources such as land being developed into housing, manufacturing and etc. Resources as energy getting more expensive to produce and more scarce. Infrastucture deteriorating, a widening gap between the have’s and have not’s. opinion, this will also widen the gap on the farm. The more regulation will only put more hardships on the smaller farmer. It has become a law of economies of scale. The equipment built is getting bigger and more expensive, whick lends itself to the larger operations, if you want to survive, you need to either find a niche, such as organic, or get bigger to absorb the increased costs.