In today’s Beef Buzz, senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays speaks with Hannah Thompson-Weeman, president and CEO of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, who sheds light on the growing, well-funded movement working against modern animal agriculture. Weeman emphasized that many activist groups aren’t interested in improving welfare or sustainability but in eliminating animal agriculture entirely. As she put it, “For these organizations, it’s not about welfare. It’s not about sustainability, they just don’t believe [animal agriculture] has a place in the food system.”
Weeman detailed the Alliance’s extensive monitoring work, noting that the movement is expanding both in influence and financial strength. She highlighted the organization’s recently released Animal Activist Group Web, explaining that “just the 40 or so most active brought in $865 million in income in their most recent tax filings,” a nearly 10% increase from the prior year. While not all of that money goes directly into anti-ag campaigns, she said a “significant amount” is funding legislative and corporate pushes aimed at banning key production practices.
Some of this funding comes from well-known emotional advertising, but Weeman warned that large private foundations are also pumping “$10 million in operating funds, $100 million for certain campaigns” into efforts that target livestock producers. She pointed to Prop 12 as a key example of how these dollars translate into major policy battles and noted that several groups are now working intensely to prevent its repeal, despite industry concerns about the measure’s real-world impacts.
A growing trend, Weeman said, is the emergence of new Washington, D.C.–based organizations attempting to present themselves as farmer-focused groups despite having ties to national activist networks. She explained that groups like “Americans for Family Farmers” and “American Meat Producers” are “trying to position themselves as representatives of the broader animal agriculture community” even though they do not represent mainstream livestock organizations such as NPPC, the Pork Board, or Farm Bureau. These groups often seek to use the public’s trust in farmers to advance activist-driven policy goals.
Weeman closed by urging producers to pay close attention to the messaging and affiliations behind these organizations, especially online. Many groups appear “innocuous” at first glance, she warned, adding, “It takes a couple clicks to see what’s going on.” The Alliance maintains profiles on more than 260 such groups to help producers understand who is truly aligned with modern, science-based animal agriculture—and who is working against it.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
