Hightower compares CAFO to concentration camp

Hightower rallies crowd against corporate agriculture
Anita Weier — 4/05/2008 5:28 pm

Progressive author and columnist Jim Hightower energized a gathering of 160 people at a conference about the impacts of large livestock operations in Wisconsin with homespun humor and sharp wit.

"You, who are taking on the CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operation) giants, you are showing the guts and gumption to pioneer and to challenge the conventional wisdom, to confront the corporate order, to crash the bureaucratic barriers," he said.

Referring to huge farms with thousands of animals as "the concentration camps of agriculture," Hightower accused corporate agriculture of turning food production into an assembly line using genetic engineering, antibiotics, sex hormones, irradiation and cloning so that "every cow and every tomato will have the same texture, taste and composition."

The fight against such operations will not be easy, Hightower said, because opponents are challenging the money and power of the agribusiness establishment and its effect on politicians. He added that those present should follow the example of three Wisconsin groups - the Organic Valley Family of Farms, Union Cab and Fighting Bob Fest - that he said all developed their own way of taking back power for the people. Read More

When people such as Jim Hightower suggest that the way we raise farm animals is the same as how people were treated in concentration camps in WW II is utterly ridiculous and offensive. In fact they are treated quite the opposite. The animals are fed a balanced diet everyday, have access to clean water and have health professionals looking after them their entire lives. That’s not what Anne Frank and millions of other human beings experienced in concentration camps.