¡Join the fight!
I was reading this Introduction to a new book by journalist David Kirby called Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy and Poultry Farms on Humans and the Environment," over at Firedoglake, a book that the author says has three years of research and writing behind it. The Introduction is offered as a blog post and I highly recommend checking it out. Read more...
I would love to read some feedback from farmers and/or animal welfare specialists on this piece from the Des Moines Register (which typically has some of the better ag reporting among mainstream, daily newspapers). The article is headlined Critics of old henhouses drive a shift to cage-free, and by my read, the article has a reasoned tone that tells both sides of the cage-free chicken issue fairly well. Read more...
When I started following Jake Schultz on Twitter, and reading his tweets about his urban chicken coop, I figured he lived somewhere warm and chicken-friendly. But as tweets went by, I realized, no, he was in the Upper Midwest. Then I realized, no, he was in my town, right here in Minneapolis. So I contacted him and realized, wow, he lives about 8 blocks from me. Read more...
I've been looking into "Issue 2" in Ohio and there's some pretty fascinating political maneuvering going on. If you live in an ag state, I advise you to familiarize yourself with the fight surrounding this issue, since, chances are, it's coming to your legislature, too.
What is it? Issue 2 is an initiative seeking to change that state's constitution to create a 13-member Livestock Board, which would be appointed by the governor and would oversee all matters concerning livestock management practices in the state of Ohio. Read more...
