A prominent animal-safety group is calling on restaurants to do more to ban the use of animal gestation crates where livestock and poultry are grown for meat.

A new report from the group Animal Equality said some chains have made progress but many are lagging.

Dozens of U.S. restaurant companies pledged to end the use of gestation crates for pregnant pigs in their supply chains back in 2008. Since then, 11 states have either restricted their use or outlawed them. Montana is not among them. In fact, one online store said it serves the Dakotas and Montana with swine-confinement facilities.

Devon Dear, institutional outreach manager for the group Animal Equality, said some restaurant chains still do not comply but she is encouraged others do.

"We've seen some really big players in this industry move away from crates," Dear outlined. "McDonald's, Wendy's, Jack in the Box, Chipotle, Shake Shack, Panera Bread; these companies have all either significantly reduced or eliminated crates. We know that it can be done successfully."

Gestation crates are about the same size as an airplane seat, and are breeding grounds for disease. The report lists Denny's, Chick-fil-A, Dunkin, and KFC among 13 companies it said have not been aggressive enough in reducing their use of the crates. Dear hopes the Farm Bill now being debated in Congress will put the issue in the spotlight.

In Montana and other Plains and Midwest states, gestation crates mirrored the proliferation of large factory farms in the 1980s and '90s, where thousands of animals are confined in limited areas. The operations have created health and environmental problems.

Dear emphasized Animal Equality is concerned with the threats those conditions pose to animal welfare.

"When you have this many animals in one place, you're getting really high concentrations of feces, you're having all of the environmental impacts of this," Dear explained. "Pigs produce a ton of waste and this has to be disposed of properly to not make nearby communities sick."

Dear argued the higher the pigs' stress levels, the higher the use of antibiotics, which often run off with manure into groundwater. Montana's factory farmers have said they are responding to consumer demand for more consistently raised, high-quality pork and other products. Animal Equality's report shows 80% of consumers are concerned about the treatment of factory-farmed pigs.


get more stories like this via email

Iowa is the nation's number one corn and soybean producer and federal polices are designed to keep it that way but more farmers are moving away from traditional crops to protect the state's waterways.

Corn and soybeans both require a lot of fertilizer, which eventually seeps into groundwater.

Lee Tesdell, owner and operator of the 80-acre Tesdell Century Farm, in rural Slater, about 30 miles north of Des Moines, has adopted conservation methods. Instead of relying on the "big two" crops, he has gone to a four-crop rotation to reduce the amount of fertilizer he needs.

"Soybeans, corn, oats and alfalfa would be just as profitable," Tesdell pointed out. "Yields would be similar (to) a corn-soy, corn-soy, corn-soy, or corn-on-corn."

Some farmers have pushed back on moving away from corn and soybeans because they have been so reliable and profitable for generations. Adding new crops also means adding new costs.

Tesdell noted pollution from fertilizer runoff has become so bad in Iowa, the state's largest utility company has banned lawn watering to reduce nitrates in groundwater.

"Central Iowa Water Works cannot produce enough potable water every day to both send us good drinking water and enough water to water our lawns that's below 10 milligrams per liter, which is the EPA standard for drinking water," Tesdell explained.

Gov. Kim Reynolds recently vetoed a bill which would have banned companies from using eminent domain to construct CO2 pipelines on Iowa farmland, further promoting fertilizer-hungry corn and soybean production which can threaten Iowa's waterways.


get more stories like this via email

Ohio's food and agriculture industry contributes $124 billion to the state's economy annually.

Some farmers, however, argue that government policies need to be revised to support farmers nationwide in cultivating healthier foods for Americans.

A report from President Donald Trump's Make America Healthy Again Commission blames a poor diet as one of the leading causes of childhood chronic diseases.

But Joe Maxwell, president of the nonpartisan ag watchdog group Farm Action Fund, said the government's policies are a major contributor to the problem.

"They could shift government food procurement towards healthier foods," said Maxwell, "using government dollars and purchasing power to shift the agriculture and food system."

The MAHA report also lists toxic materials, medical treatments, lifestyle, environment, government policies, and food-production techniques as potential contributors to chronic childhood illnesses.

Ohio farmers produce more than 200 different crops and livestock, according to the state's Department of Agriculture.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture reports there are over 76,000 farms in the state. And 95% of them are family-owned.

Maxwell said he wants the Trump administration to confront the current system, which he said routinely prioritizes profits of foreign-owned conglomerates over the interests of American farmers and families.

"The president could renegotiate the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement," he said, "and make sure that all beef and pork is labeled as Product of the USA."

Farm Action is also asking the government to shift subsidies toward healthier crops that grow fruits, vegetables and whole grains and to invest in local and regional food systems to strengthen rural economies and improve access to fresh food.



get more stories like this via email

A group of farmers says government policies need to change to support farms in West Virginia and elsewhere in cultivating foods that will improve Americans' health.

A report from President Donald Trump's "Make America Healthy Again" Commission blames a poor diet as one of the leading causes of childhood chronic disease. However, Joe Maxwell, president of the nonpartisan ag watchdog group Farm Action Fund, said the government's policies are a major contributor to the problem.

"They could shift government food procurement towards healthier foods," he said, "using government dollars and purchasing power to shift the agriculture and food system."

The "MAHA" report cites toxic materials, medical treatments, lifestyle, environment, government policies and food-production techniques as some of the many possible factors that cause chronic childhood diseases.

Farm Action believes ending support for big, corporate agriculture would help other farmers produce healthier foods.

Maxwell said he wants the Trump administration to confront the current system -- in which he said the profits of foreign-owned conglomerates are routinely prioritized over the interests of American farmers and families.

"The president could renegotiate the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement," he said, "and make sure that all beef and pork is labeled as 'Product of the USA.'"

Farm Action is also asking the government to shift subsidies toward healthy food crops such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains and to invest in local and regional food systems to strengthen rural economies and improve access to fresh food.


get more stories like this via email