Agricultural News
Dr. Temple Grandin Honored by American Farm Bureau for Animal Well Being Advocacy
Sun, 11 Jan 2015 17:12:17 CST
The American Farm Bureau Federation presented its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, to Dr. Temple Grandin during the 96th AFBF Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show.
AFBF established the Distinguished Service Award to honor individuals who have devoted their careers to serving agriculture.
Dr. Temple Grandin has dedicated her life to improving animal welfare and handling. One of the most successful people in the world with autism, Grandin is the leading authority on farm animal behavior. Her unique ability to visualize from the animal's perspective led her to design livestock processing systems which are more humane and efficient. Her systems for reducing animal stress in processing plants are being used throughout the country and around the world. Grandin also developed an objective scoring system for assessing and handling cattle and pigs at meat plants. A number of major corporations now use this scorecard to help improve animal welfare.
Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, also travels the country giving lectures and uses her status to bring awareness to autism. She is a prolific writer, with two books on the New York Times best-seller list, and has received scores of accolades for her work.
"There's no question that Dr. Grandin's work has transformed the livestock industry," Stallman said. "Her groundbreaking systems have become popular across the country for their capacity to reduce animal fear and stress while make handling and transport easier. It would have been a big loss for animal agriculture if Dr. Grandin had focused her brilliant mind on something else."
Dr. Grandin thanked Farm Bureau for the honor- but told the audience that there is lots of educating of the general public that need to be done to help consumers understand that livestock producers are doing a lot of good things in caring for their livestock. You can hear her response on the stage Sunday morning as she received this award from the nation's largest general farm group- click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear her comments.
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