Border Battles & Bank Boycotts: Animal Ag’s Double Crisis | Rising Anxieties

And of course the big one, the really big one is immigration. And I, I don't know what's going on. Uh, last week I was talking about the fact that Trump had specifically said that they were going to lay off the ag industry along with the hotel industry, and I think restaurants, and then almost immediately somebody from the administration said, no, that's not true. And you know, so I understand the industry being confused. I'm certainly confused. This is from Dairy Herd Management. Agriculture In The Bullseye; raids reportedly resume on farms as Trump eyes new steps for ag immigration. Uh, and that goes on to say the on again, off again reports regarding ICE raids is sowing confusion for those who rely on immigrant labor and causing labor shortages because employees aren't showing up for work. Notice who they're worried about, IE, themselves; they're not worried about their employees, whose lives are being completely destroyed in a million ways.

But, uh, no, it's all about the industry itself. Alright, so as I said, the raids were all off. Then the raids were put back on again. And there was, you know, an indication there was not gonna be any special treatment for farming interests. And then there was another update with, uh, quote President Trump saying he's looking at new immigration policy steps that would allow farms to take responsibility for people they hire.

What the hell this is going to have be? I, I'm still, my theory is that they're going to extend H-2A visas to animal agriculture. Those are those temporary visas where people can come and work for seasonal employment. And, you know, it's a pretty bad program for a lot of people, and they don't have a lot, you know, it's like there's no path to citizenship.

It's not like immigration. It's more like indentured servitude. I, there are some protections I don't wanna exaggerate, but still it's like indentured servitude. They can move from employer to employer, but as far as I know, they have to stay within the industry. So what good does that get you? And the, the absolute maximum they can be extended for I think is three years. I'm kind of talking through my hat, not my area of expertise, but I think that's true.

Alright. So, Trump told reporters, quote, we're looking at doing something where in the case of good, reputable farmers, they can take responsibility for the people that they hire and let them have responsibility because we can't put the farms out of business. And at the same time, we don't wanna hurt people that aren't criminals. Like as if 99% of the people they're targeting were criminals. Like they're not, they're absolutely not.

This sounds like, you know, that uh, it's gonna be good for the industry and not so good for the workers and, you know, what are the chances of that? But, but I will wait until I have better information to actually inform you what's happening since I don't know.

There have been raids. This is from Dairy Herd Management, so they're talking about raids on dairy farms or dairy operations, as they call them in here. It says dairy operations in several states have also been raided recently.

Dairy producers say they rely on immigrant labor to provide a stable year-round workforce and to keep the US food supply stable. So you know, they're definitely pushing for extension of these temporary visas to be extended to year-round employment. This guy Greg Mos from Modac Dairy in South Dakota said, "We need these people to take care of our animals so we can produce food. Without animal care, we won't have milk, cheese, butter, nothing." Nothing?

The raids are problematic, not only because people get seized, because they're not seizing, like really widespread numbers of people apparently at most of these raids, but then they, you know, they cause a lot of people to not show up for work because they're terrified.

I think I reported on this before, but I'll just re repeat it. Immigrant labor makes up a substantial portion of the meat processing workforce, with estimates ranging from 37 to over 50%. It doesn't say whether that's illegal or legal immigration. However, states like South Dakota and Nebraska have even higher concentrations of immigrant workers in reprocessing, reaching 58% and 66%, and it's estimated that over half of all dairy workers are immigrants.

I mean, it doesn't matter to the industry if they're immigrants, if they're documented. So, uh, you know.

There's another article here. This one, I don't get it all. Like I don't know what's going on here, but it sounds pretty racist to me. This is from Investigate Midwest, H-2A visas- those are again, these temporary visas for seasonal work- for white South African workers have surged 1300% since 2011.

Though they make up only 3% of all H-2A workers, white South Africans are the program's fastest-growing group. Lawsuits in Mississippi claim they're hired over black US workers and paid more. The Department of Labor has confirmed allegations in dozens of cases. Uh, yeah. Uh.

What can I say? They much prefer to have people from other countries, though I don't know whether these people would be desperate. Their excuses for why they would hire South African workers over other immigrants are that they speak English. Last I checked, you know, most Black Americans, uh, speak in English, so I'm not really sure that that's, uh, what the issue is there.

Uh, I don't know whether there are a lot of, uh, I guess there are a lot of agricultural workers in South Africa. I guess maybe a lot of 'em are white. I don't know. They don't seem to be importing any Black South Africans, according to this article. Well, I wouldn't say the article says that, but the article doesn't mention anything like that.

And since the H-2A program does not provide a, a route to citizenship, I'm not sure that that's one of the issues, but this just seems like an interesting fact to put into the mix because, you know, why do they prefer these seasonal workers? And one of the things they point out is the reason it's so good to get South Africans is not only because they're white, they don't say that part, not only because they speak English, which you know Black Americans frequently, almost always speak English... um, but because they're preferred over immigrants from other countries sometimes because of the seasonal nature. They, they don't have any work cause South Africa's seasons are opposite to ours.

They don't have any work during the time when American farms have the most work. But again, you know, how does this make them preferable over Black Americans? What's going on here? I mean, we know something of what's going on here. They don't wanna employ, um, people who have rights, who, uh, are not here seasonally, who they can't get rid of.

Like, like... really? We need a really deep dive. Well, a lot of people are doing deep dives into this. That, that story actually was from Investigate Midwest, which is doing remarkable work around these issues. Great site, not an animal activist site. Um, just keeping an eye on agriculture, and, obviously, we need many eyes on agriculture.

All right, I'll move on. I'll move on. Um, Animal Activists Weaponize Banks Against Poultry Producers. Yeah. Like to hear this one. This is by Meredith Dawson. It's from Watt Poultry. Activist organizations are beginning to use financial pressure to force the poultry industry to comply with their agenda.

Yeah, we have. We have so much financial pressure that we can force the poultry industry to do something. So the language is a little extreme, but she has a point. Alright, she's talking specifically about Humane World for Animals, which is HSUS's, um, new name. And they recently announced they're working with financial institutions to drive plant-based change in animal agricultural practices. I'm not sure it's all plant-based. Um, some of it is welfare reform. But they're talking about a, a panel discussion that Kitty Block was on, she's the head of Humane World for animals, in which International Finance Cooperations, which I guess is a really big deal, but I know nothing about finance. But, you know, it's a, it's a big investment firm. Um, alright.

Their head of global agribusiness outlined animal production practices the institution no longer finances, including conventional layer housing, that's what they call battery cage facilities now, conventional layer housing.

They invest in livestock companies. So, you know, they're one of the funders of this whole industry, but they are trying to implement an animal husbandry management system, including animal welfare considerations. They decline to invest in companies that are not following this set of industry-specific good management practices and technologies.

Kitty Block, in this presentation, added that other financial institutions have not made these commitments, but that seems like a really good project. She includes Citigroup, Bank of America, Barclays, JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, Santander, and Credit Suisse. Uh, so this seems like there's a lot of work to be done there, but this is a really productive way to go, I think.

It's been going for a while and I, I mean, she points out in this article that it's her opinion and from also her colleagues, Roy Graber, that this has a lot to do with the success of groups like The Humane League, um, in getting cage-free egg pledges, which, you know, it's always seemed a little mysterious to me where the pressure was coming from because I don't think there's enormous public pressure to get cage-free egg pledges out of these companies. I really don't, I mean, there's some, but that doesn't seem like what's driving this.

And you know, the, the idea that it's the retailers. Also, if there's not a lot of pressure from the public, why would there be a lot of pressure from the retailers? But if there's pressure from the finances... I'm just speculating here, but you know, pressure from anywhere is a good thing. And I think this is, this is an excellent technique. Um, we're dealing with this huge, huge global industry and, you know, money talks.

The article also points out that, um, Humane World for Animals is attempting to create negative publicity surrounding banks and agricultural practices to apply pressure until businesses are forced to comply. They're not forced to do anything, like they're constantly saying they're forced to. Campaigns are started that make it within their business interests to comply, and so they do. Um, but she says until businesses are forced to comply with their agenda to end animal agriculture. Yeah, I wish. I don't have that much confidence, but you know, every step in the right direction, I believe, is good.

Alright. I know I reported on this before, but I'm just updating you on the topic that we all talk about all the time. That is screwworm. New world screwworm, the latest, uh, plague to hit the industry, which, you know, just creates plagues and then spreads them around.

The new world screw worm, the billion dollar battle at the southern border. This is from Drovers. It starts out- as the fight to keep the flesh-eating parasite out of the US intensifies, the economic impact on ranchers and the industry is top of mind. Nothing about the animals at all, it's just the economic impact on ranchers and the industry.

Nothing even about like, you know, the American public or anything, just, uh, it's all about us. Quote, this pest will be one that leaves quite a mark on our economy, said one veterinarian. Uh, there's still, you know, it's in Mexico, they're still really panicked about it. They do not want it to get to the border.

But this guy, Ethan Lane, who's with the National Cattleman's Beef Association said, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when it reaches the US. And his point is that we have to spend $300 million now to save us $8 billion down the line in eradication costs. So, 'cause if it does reach the US it's going to be a fortune.

Um, and of course it's going to devastate the industry in the process, like really doing horrific things to animals, but that's really not the consideration. Alright? So exactly who needs to spend $300 million now? Um, it turns out that, you know, we all do! Including you, including me.

USDA investment. Um, they've reopened Moore Air Base in Texas as a sterile fly distribution facility. That's how, that's how they're dealing with it. They breed these flies. 'cause the flies carry the worms and they breed these flies in a way that they, they end the reproduction of the flies. So it doesn't spread, you know, it's gruesome, the whole thing. What could go wrong?

All right. That has an estimated price of 8.5 million. A new production facility, which is gonna take two or three years to build, would cost 300 to 600 million. Um, and then it would cost money to actually operate the facilities once they're built. And the USDA is also investing $21 million in the renovation of an existing fruit fly production facility in Mexico.

Uh, so yeah. Our tax dollars at work. And there's no guarantee here that this is gonna work and not even cause worse problems than we've already got. Alright, finally, this is just a weird one, and I don't wanna say this is, this is enjoyable because nothing about this industry is enjoyable.

And I have nothing particular against Trader Joe's, but this is from, uh, Watt AgNet. Trader Joe's isn't secretly selling HPAI vaccinated chicken. Apparently this has gone viral, this rumor, this is by Elizabeth Doman, about, uh, how the the chicken sold, the dead bodies of chickens sold at, um, Trader Joe's have been vaccinated. Of course there is no vaccine. There's no vaccine at all that has been approved. There's no, um, uh, what do they call it? Uh, the, the kinds of vaccines that everybody... oh yeah. mRNA. Those are the kind of vaccines that everybody's against. You know, saved us all from dying of COVID.

There's none even in production because the current, um, Health and Human Services nixed that. We don't even want one. So that's not even in production. So there's no vaccine at all. American producers would not use a vaccine because then they couldn't sell their poultry, um, dead bodies overseas.

Uh, says the US hasn't approved avian flu vaccination in commercial poultry, primarily due to concerns about how it could impact trade with other countries. So there's doubley no mRNA vaccine. No reason to believe there will be one. Moderna had a contract to produce it, but it was canceled.

And yet this is, you know, rumors. You gotta love 'em. Maybe people'll buy things that aren't dead bodies of chickens. I can dream. Right? Uh, and it just shows that people know nothing about bird flu and they're scared of it. And um, then they're scared of the vaccines. I don't know. We're all gonna die.

Well, you know, like that Senator said, we are all gonna die. I would prefer it not be immediately and of bird flu, but, but, uh, whatever. That's it for this week's rising anxieties.

Don't forget to tune in Wednesday; we'll be doing The Hen Report. Remember to subscribe, especially on YouTube, even if you don't wanna watch. And that's it. See you tomorrow.