Agricultural Absurdities: From Edited Screams to Forced Labor | Rising Anxieties

This is by Abby Kornegay from the Animal Agriculture Alliance, and it's on drovers.com. Don't let activists spoil the fun this fair season, and uh she's, of course, talking about state fairs. And the subtitle is, fairs provide an invaluable time to engage with the public about agriculture, but watch out for detractors attempting to sway public opinion and protest these events.

Yeah, I love it. Um, and she points out that because she's a member of the agricultural community, she considers this to be an invaluable time to reach outside the bubble and engage with the public about agriculture and where our food comes from. We, of course, are not members of the public.

We are, we are, you know, uh. The other side, does she consider herself to be on a side? I don't know. However, there are often detractors attempting to sway public opinion. Ah, yeah, exactly. And in some cases, even protest these events. Oh my god. Can you imagine? Uh, she's talking specifically about PETA. God love 'em.

You know, PETA can sometimes annoy you, but they're out there doing things like bringing their Hell On Wheels vehicle to fairgrounds. She's very upset about it. It's apparently this big truck. Uh, you know, I don't know a lot about state fairs though now that I live in upstate New York, maybe I should learn a little more.

It's really not that far from here. Um, I don't really want go though. Uh, it's meant to, it's meant to look like a pig transport truck, and, and it, it plays the screams of panicked animals. Sounds pretty authentic to me and it made an appearance at several Midwest state fairs last year. Is currently circling the US with recent stops in Nebraska, Indiana, and Illinois.

I love it. Uh, if I knew that they were coming to the New York State Fair, I, I might show up. She's talking about also people handing out stickers and other pamphlets. You know, how dare they, uh, I guess she, she thinks that they shouldn't do that. I don't know. State fair. Uh, there also seems to be coupons claiming to be free fair food, like Turkey legs and pulled pork sandwiches.

But when you scan the QR code, it would take you to a website in support of their vegan cause that actually does sound like really bad activism to me. Promising people food and then giving them information. I mean, even if it's valuable information, I hope it also comes with some vegan food. One of the things that, that the activists are really, really hard on is birthing centers.

These poor animals are dragged there to give birth in front of people to prove what? I don't know. That animals give birth? Um, she considered as a great experience for, uh, people to potentially see piglets born up close. Why is that a great experience? I mean, I, I admit it's, it's interesting, you know, biology and all of that, but really? Also they get to see the care that goes into this practice.

Uh, yeah. Right. Um. But animal rights groups are using it as a, as an opportunity for protests. Uh, and she does have suggestions for, for fair organizers and exhibitors to use. Uh, and a, a lot of them have to do with just calling the cops. That's mo, that's mostly the suggestion. One is everybody should have a crisis plan, and the crisis plan should include how to contact local law enforcement.

Also keeping an eye out for suspicious activity. I don't know what that is. Like, uh, someone taking a strange amount of photos or videos, uh. I guess, you know, people aren't supposed to do that. People asking very direct questions. I mean, like we, we don't wanna be very direct, do we?

Um, and if, if that happens, you should report concerns immediately to fair management, who, I guess they'll call the cops. Um, avoid confrontation. I think that's a good idea. But, uh, her idea is that you should keep your cool and let law enforcement or event management handle any issues. I guess law enforcement's supposed to make your arguments for you.

All right? Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Can't wait to go to the fair. Oy! all right. Our next article is from the UK. It's from our friends at Plant-Based News. Farmer claims slaughterhouse screaming is quote edited. Alright, this is about some, uh, I think it was a podcast and, uh, no, a YouTube, um, a, a YouTube video by some guy who goes by the name, his name, he real name is Jake Ball, but he goes by the, the name Plant Geezer.

He is, you know, he's vegan, um, in this story. And he was interviewing this woman Ingarad Lloyd, uh, I guess that's a Welsh name. I hope I'm pronouncing it right. She runs a website named Farmers Against Misinformation. Just wait, wait till you hear this. Alright, so they were talking about, um, how, how pigs are gassed to death by, with carbon dioxide, and it's a method of slaughter used for around 90% of the 10.8 million pigs killed in the UK.

And it's long been criticized because it's extremely cruel. It's very painful. But she doesn't, she doesn't believe that. She says the pigs just fall asleep. And, and so he showed her this video of the method being used and it showed pigs thrashing and screaming. And uh, he asked, does that sound like they're just peacefully falling asleep?

And she responded. They look all right, don't they? And then claimed that the screaming is added on, it's edited. You know, I bet she believes it. I bet she does. People will believe anything, if it's in their interest. Uh, it's just a pre, it's a depressing fact of human nature. Well, I'm not saying they can't be persuaded out of it.

Some of them can. But like to just assume like, and, and there have been many investigations of carbon dioxide gassing of pigs and, and showing them in, in agony before they lose consciousness. In both the UK apparently and, and in this country. This isn't a secret, but she's, she represents Farmers Against Misinformation.

Yeah. Oh, wow. Alright. This is a depressing information about a lawsuit, which I hope turns out well 'cause you never know with a lawsuit, sometimes they go well. Um, this is about Trader Joe's, so just keep this in mind next time you're thinking of shopping at Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's file suit against Direct Action Everywhere.

And this has to do with, uh, I don't know whether it's. Corporate Trader Joe's or a specific store in California. Um, but they wanna put an end to DXE apparently doing protests at Trader Joe's stores that sell from Petaluma Poultry, which of course has been the main, one of the major targets of Direct Action Everywhere in California.

And um. So I'm not sure exactly which Trader Joe's are, are involved, but you know, if you're in your Trader Joe's, you might wanna mention this to them and how upset you are that they're doing this. Uh, alright. The alleged improper behavior by, uh, Direct Action Everywhere folks is, um, roaming the aisle, roaming the aisles.

Can you roaming, uh, chanting slogans, blocking customer access to certain products, and removing chicken from shopper's carts. Now some of those things do sound illegal, but remember these are alleged improper behaviors, so who knows? And, um, this took place in Petaluma and Santa Rosa and, um, this guy who's, uh, I don't think I mentioned this, is from watt ag net and it's written by Roy Graber.

He's glad that Trader Joe's is letting DXE know they aren't going to tolerate their antics, and he can't imagine that any court worth its salt would rule against them. And, um, he calls these oddball antics of DXE. And then says about DXE, they seem to think that humans do not have dominion over the rest of the animal kingdom.

Like, I guess they're supposed to think that, 'cause he thinks that's what's in the Bible? Which sort of is, you know, the Bible's interpretable in various ways. Like what, like, is that just, is that just a fact that we're all supposed to like know? Apparently, according to Roy. Um, so that's what's going on in Sonoma County, reportedly, at the Trader Joe's and definitely at the Farm Bureau, who think that, um, the activities of DXE and like-minded organizations are quote an attack on our food supply. Not on my food supply. Have to tell you, um, alright, from Meating Place. Haven't gotten to Meating Place yet this week. This is from the Meat Your Markets column by Matt Graves.

Everything Old is New Again, and he is talking a lot about, uh, about, you know, critical stuff about some of the political events of the day before he gets down to, um, to his big problem. Uh, at least related to his job, which is defending the meat industry. Quote, where will we get all the laborers to pick our crops or toil away in our meat and poultry processing plants? Toil away?

Well, the Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, has a solution. Um, and he's talking about the fact that, you know, that the immigration problem that Trump in June, on June 12th vowed to protect migrants. On June 17th said that that ICE is going to continue, um, immigration raids at farms.

So, uh, you know, and it's gone back and forth since then and, uh, this is interesting. Because, um, he is very critical of Rollins, uh, agriculture Secretary Rollins on, on this particular front, and, uh, says that she thinks Medicaid work requirements and automation will help offset President Trump's massive immigration crackdown, which has threatened migrant farm workers.

During a news conference with Republican governors, she said quote people on Medicaid could replace deported immigrants. They could pick crops. There are 34 million able-bodied adults on our Medicaid program. There are plenty of workers in America. And he is not taking this seriously because it sounds like forced labor.

Quote. However, forcing any able-bodied person on Medicaid to work on farms or plants smacks a little too much like forced labor. They don't want these people, but this, this article really fails to go into so many of the real points going on here, either because he, he's unfamiliar, or because he doesn't want to.

Um, I don't know. Uh, but, but first of all, all of this discussion, particularly by Brooke Rollins, about Medicaid seems to assume that Medicaid provides people with an income and that's why they're not working. Uh, that you know, they're lazy and that's why they're not working and they're, I mean, it seems to assume that, that they're on Medicaid, so they don't have to work.

Medicaid doesn't give you an income. Medicaid. I mean, as you all know, Medicaid doesn't give you any money at all. It pays your doctors. If there's Medicaid fraud going on, it's the doctors who work who are conducting it, not the individuals. I mean, getting your medical bills paid, doesn't like pay your rent or, or your food bill.

And this 34 million American, uh, numbers. Um, it's of people where, oh, where was that? There are 34 million able-bodied adults. I mean, that may be true they're on Medicaid, but that doesn't mean they're not employed. Uh, most of the vast majority of them are employed, like, like, because they have to be in order to pay their bills. All right. Where's this, I'm getting this from an from kff.org. Um, in 2023, nearly two thirds of adults age 19 to 64 covered by Medicaid were working and nearly three in 10 were not working because of things that are actually accepted by Medicaid as exemptions. Um caregiving responsibilities, illness or disability, or due to school attendance.

Uh, they are qualifying exemptions. Um, under previous policies, I guess. I don't wanna overstate what I'm saying, but the point is, is that most of them are working and the ones that aren't working aren't working because of other reasons. Like they're working... sorry. Carried away. Um, so yeah, though, you know, I'm glad that, that this guy on Meat Your Markets is sticking up for these people, but like, learn the facts.

The other thing is, is that I've seen this talked about in the, in, in the context of people who work in the fields, you know, picking the crops and whatever, uh, that they act like this work is just something that any like bozo who's never been in agriculture in any way can just do. I mean, aside from the fact that that, and also working in slaughterhouses, I'm sure, requires an enormous amount of fitness.

I mean, this isn't just anybody, uh, who can do this. Like you have to be strong. You have to be physically strong to be able to do it. But also it, particularly in reference to the field work and maybe in reference to the work in the factories too, probably, it requires a lot of skill. Like to be able to do this, you don't just like ship people, uh, out, out onto the fields and say, pick those, uh, lettuces. It's really hard. It's not only hard physically. You have to learn how to do it really well and really fast in order to be able be any good at it. You know, they, they act like the work that, uh, you know, people who, who aren't, um, I don't know, stockbrokers or, or bloggers for Meating Place is just, you know, anybody could do it.

It's stupid. No, it's not. Just because it gets paid really poorly and just because people are taken advantage of doesn't mean that what they're doing isn't difficult, both physically and mentally. I mean, I'm not saying other people couldn't learn it. But it's not just something that, that anybody could do.

It's skilled, like almost all jobs require some kind of skill. And I'm not gonna go into this last article in detail. It's from Sentient Media. I highly recommend that you read it. It's by Seth Milstein from um, and it says, The Mega Bill's New Handouts to Meat and Dairy Producers Explained because the articles that you see on Meating Place are talking about how the meat industry is being disadvantaged, particularly by immigration policies.

But there's plenty in that bill to help them out. So don't, don't worry about them. Don't spend your time being concerned. How the recently passed bill increases financial assistance for livestock farmers while cutting SNAP benefits for low-income Americans. He's talking a lot about insurance, um, provisions, and there have always been insurance provisions.

Um, like for a just one example, I mean this, it's a long article, so I'm not gonna go into all of it, but, you know, there's like insurance for animals who, God forbid they shouldn't get paid, like, or take any risks, for animals who don't make it through extreme weather, disease and predation. And it used to be 75% of market value and they've raised it to a hundred percent.

And there are other examples of things like this, and his point is, and I think it's an excellent one, is that you raise the compensation rate to a hundred percent, you have removed any incentive to improve conditions or try to prevent these deaths, to try to protect these animals better from whatever conditions that is putting them in danger.

And we see this over and over in these kinds of provisions, these insurance provisions, which also covers, um, the dairy industry and chicken industry. Um, uh, it's ridiculous. Ridiculous. So yeah, their anxieties are rising about some things, and they're happy to talk about that, but you don't hear so much about what's making them feel a whole lot better and us a little bit worse.

And that's it for this week's Rising anxieties.

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