Agricultural News
Animal Activist Groups - Their Tactics May Have Changed, But Their Objective Remains the Same
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 16:34:52 CST
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays had the chance to catch up with the Animal Agriculture Alliance's new vice president of communications, Hannah Thompson-Weeman, during the American Farm Bureau Federation Convention in Phoenix this past week. She explained to Hays that opponents of animal agriculture are starting to incorporate new tactics in their fight to accomplish their ultimate goal, which is to completely end the practice of production agriculture.
"They always find new ways to push that goal and find ways to make food more expensive, drive up costs to consumers," Thompson-Weeman said, "but really their ultimate objective, which is putting farmers and ranchers out of business, hasn't changed."
She insists these animal rights activist groups have become very savvy in how they navigate socio-political landscapes to make their cases against production agriculture. Part of this problem has to do with the unfortunate reality that consumers are simply so far removed from the farm these days, that they are easily susceptible to the misinformation spread by these groups.
"When there's such a slim percentage of the population that is actively engaged on a daily basis in farming and ranching," Thompson-Weeman said, "that leaves your general population purchasers of animal products being two, three maybe even more generations from the farm and they've never seen what we do with their own eyes."
For thirty years, the Animal Agriculture Alliance has tracked the efforts of animal rights extremists and from those many years of knowledge, Thompson-Weeman, who has just been promoted within the organization herself, says that the best way to fight these groups, is for the whole ag-based community to stand together united against the agendas of these outside organizations that seek to dictate their terms to our own industry.
"What we really believe is the biggest winning strategy for animal agriculture is being united and standing together. And it doesn't matter what kind of product you produce. At the end of the day if you are producing products that come from animals, they do not want you in business," she said. "That's the biggest thing that I see that we need to do within the animal agriculture industry is get out of our own way and work together."
Listen to the entire exchange between Hays and Thompson-Weeman about the ongoing battle with animal rights activists, by clicking or tapping on the LISTEN BAR below.
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