Pause to imagine the animals in human life, in particular, animals in the home.  There may be a cat on a windowsill, dog on a sofa.  What about cows or chickens on a plate?  Raise a hand if you want to know what goes on behind the windowless barn of a factory farm. Wait a minute, no one raised a hand…

While independent documentaries like The Ghosts in Our Machine are gaining critical acclaim for exposing these hidden connections, editorials and opinions exposing the questionable practices of the agricultural industry have appeared in The New York Times and The Boston Globe.  All play a part of an urgent response to recent “Ag Gag” bills that attempt to silence exposure of agribusiness practices.

At a time when some consumers are simply avoiding meat consumption, many others are actively seeking alternatives to reduce or improve meat, largely in response to a widely criticized factory farm industry.  Though “only a small percentage of U.S. cattle are produced using sound natural resource management,” some believe that consumer influence may yet help shape the meat and dairy industry. This hopeful trend has created a surge of interest (from within and without of the industry) to change the practices (or perceptions) that have come under the highest scrutiny: primarily around environmental and “humane” industry standards.

However wildly words like “sustainable” and “humane” may be brandished by the industries in question, to be minimally fair they lack precision when compared to a regulated term like “organic.”  In effect, it seems agribusiness industry may be looking to sidestep change and substitute a label to appease consumers.  Part of that industry project involves Ag Gag laws, which threaten the rights of employees, activists, and journalists.  Wherever you land on the “humane” debate, take a moment to review critiques of these industry proposals around what animal advocates term the “myth of sustainable meat” or the “humane farming myth.”

While incrementally improvements for agribusiness practices that reduce environmental harms and animal abuses are important, these practices most clearly come under scrutiny because of the work people undertake through investigations (like the aforementioned Ghosts).  Instead, Ag Gag bills are not designed to correct illegal practices or reduce animal cruelty, but “to punish whistleblowers.”

The right to steak may not be in question, but the right to know what goes on in agribusiness is at stake.  Groups like the Organic Consumers Association and other sources  are replete with people keeping a careful, state by state watch on proposed Ag Gag bills.  Hopefully critical efforts like these will protect the rights of those who work to expose illegal and cruel practices.

Want to help stop Ag Gag bills from silencing the people who deliver attention to (often ignored) causes into the spotlight?  Whether your concerns are with worker rights, whistleblowing protection, journalistic free speech, food safety, or animal advocacy, learn more and take action!