By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent PEORIA, Ill. — Illinois pork producers who attended the 2010 Illinois Pork Expo in Peoria last week heard the senior vice-president of the United Egg Producers (UEP), Chad Gregory, caution those in the pork industry to be vigilant against continued attacks on their livelihoods by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
“The HSUS has a lot of (legal) activity (against animal agriculture) going on right now, and it seems like the egg and pork industries are right in their cross-hairs,” said Gregory, a Gibson City, Ill. native and Southern Illinois University graduate now residing in Atlanta, Ga., before his Feb. 3 Pork Expo presentation (HSUS: A Clear and Present Danger).
Gregory, who also represents the UEP’s interests on the International Egg Committee, said he was at the Expo to share the Alpharetta, Ga.-based trade organization’s experiences in their battles with the HSUS, the public and the mainstream media in trying to defeat California’s Proposition 2 ballot initiative affecting the layer industry in November of 2008, among other topics.
“Where is the HSUS next focusing?” Gregory asked rhetorically. “We want to help Illinois producers to be prepared when they come.”
Though HSUS-influenced, anti-animal agriculture measures have been introduced and defeated in this decade in the Illinois legislature, Gregory warned that the animal rights group’s efforts in the state and the Midwest are probably just getting started.
“I think there is lower-hanging fruit for the HSUS to go after right now (than Illinois agriculture), but they have certainly been active in the (Illinois) state legislature in the last five, six, seven years. At least one or two times they have offered up anti-cage legislation, and more recently they tried to ban gestation crates. So they are certainly getting their feet wet in the state trying to figure out who their friends are,” said Gregory.
“HSUS has $131 million in annual revenue and $200 million worth of assets. In 2007, their number one mission was not to help cats and dogs at local shelters, it was to eliminate crates for pigs and veal and cages for the layer industry. Illinois is certainly a viable target for that kind of activity for the HSUS,” Gregory added.
To help ensure those concerned about animal welfare and egg products, the UEP developed an animal care certification program and logo that appears on egg cartons nationwide. Egg producers representing more than 80 percent of the industry participate in the program, which requires producers to open their farms to compliance audits. The program encourages the phasing in of increased cage space per hen by producers, rather than a forced reconfiguration that would cause market disruptions – as was the case after the passage of California’s Proposition 2.
Based on recommendations from an independent scientific advisory committee, the guidelines place top priority on the comfort, health and safety of the animals. Gregory said the UEP program could serve as a template for similar certification programs for others in animal ag wishing to be proactive regarding the HSUS threat.
But sometimes, Gregory admitted, even a conscientious and effective animal welfare certification program won’t deter the powerful HSUS.
“The voters in California had no idea of the ramifications of what they were voting on (with Prop 2),” Gregory said. “We tried to tell them. We raised $10 million from the egg industry and animal agriculture to try and fight (the HSUS). We hired a political campaign team to try and beat them, and we lost 63 (percent) to 37.
“But Proposition 2 woke a sleeping giant in agriculture. Everyone is now getting organized, coalitions are being built, (and) social media networks are being established to get everyone working together. The only question is, can we pull all of these efforts and resources together to compete?”
Gregory believes animal agriculture can.
Those wishing to know more about modern egg producers and their commitment to animal welfare and their communities can visit UEP’s website (www.unitedegg.org) and www.usaeggfamily.com |
