Schafer Says Tell Story

Schafer: Farmers Need to Tell Livestock Story to Consumers
Thursday, November 13, 2008

In light of the recent passage of California's Proposition 2, which bans certain animal care practices, outgoing USDA chief Ed Schafer told RFD Radio Wednesday that farmers must continue to tell the public about how producers safely care for their animals. "We must continue to inform consumers that we have the safest, most cost-effective food supply in the world," Schafer said.

He said farmers must make sure that isolated incidents do not cause special-interest groups to ban good livestock practices that could eventually move domestic livestock production to off-shore or overseas locations. Link

To listen to the interview click here.

You hear me say this all the time, and now Sec. Schafer is also sending this message to the livestock industry that we need to tell the consumers about ourselves and our operations. It’s easy to think that the animal rights movement will go away or that someone will take care of this issue for us. Ultimately, those of us in the industry are the only ones who can do this job.