POLICY
Governments have an outsized impact on the food system
Governments have a myriad of policies that affect the food system, often in ways that are at odds with the public good.
Policies can distort the market in favor of animal-based foods by
Subsidizing water and other inputs directed to animal feed
Subsidizing feed crops such as soy and corn
Providing public lands for grazing and fishing at extremely low cost
Proving low cost insurance, and guaranteeing prices for products, essentially paying farmers to produce more animal products than the market can bear, and then dumping those products on the world market which harms farmers in other countries
Directing significant research dollars to science designed to promote animal agriculture, and failing to devote research dollars to research into alternative and far more sustainable sources of protein
Failing to enforce even basic animal welfare regulations
Overly recommending animal proteins in nutritional guidelines that then impact what is served in schools, prisons, etc.
Governments take these actions even as they are increasingly realizing the outsized social and economic cost of an animal-based food system.
Avoiding bad outcomes
The current animal-based food system is leading to
accelerated climate change, as animal agriculture is the one of the largest and least talked about contributors to greenhouse gasses
increased antibiotic resistance do to the excessive use of antibiotics in factory farmed animals, with the potential to create “superbugs” in humans for which we have no treatment
increased risk of pandemics, as diseases such as COVID-19, swine flu, bird flu and others all began in animals and can then jump to human populations
bad health outcomes for people, as animal products are known contributors to cancer and heart disease, the leading killers of people
outsized impact on the most vulnerable in our society, as factory farms destroy the economic and environmental integrity of nearby communities, and provide some of the highest risk (physically and psychologically) jobs.
We do research, provide reports, support 501(c)4 social welfare organizations (as allowed by law) and are a resource to help educate policy makers to make informed decisions that better serve the public good.