AGRICULTURE
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:
A House/Senate conference com-
mittee agreed October 7 to raise the grazing
fee on federal land from $1.86 per animal unit
month to $3.45 over the next three years, and
to increase government supervision of ranching
activities on leased federal land. The higher
fee––still far lower than the going rate for leas-
ing privately owned grazing land––is expected
to sharply reduce the number of cattle and
sheep on the range in 16 western states. Final
approval of the grazing bill is pending.
October 16, both the House and the Senate
voted to eliminate $500 million in subsidies to
the slumping sheep industry. Wool and lamb
prices have fallen to record lows in each of the
past three years. The American Sheep Industry
Association predicted 25% to 30% of U.S.
sheep ranches would go out of business.
The Vermont milk processing
firms Stonyfield Farm and Ben & Jerry’s
Homemade Inc. told media in early October
that they would continue to purchase only milk
produced without the use of the production-
boosting synthetic hormone BST, and promote
their products as BST-free, despite the threat
of a lawsuit from Monsanto Inc., one of the
four BST manufacturers.
The United Food and Commercial
Workers union estimates that at least 50 of the
650 workers at the Lundy Packing Company
pig slaughtering plant in Clinton, North
Carolina, have contracted brucellosis during
the past three years due to unsanitary condi-
tions. The USDA has found 43 cases of signif-
icant human exposure to brucellosis bacteria
among the 154 employees tested. Only 84
human cases of brucellosis were detected in the
whole nation last year. The disease, usually
found in cattle, can cause miscarriages.
The USDA is now providing 2 4 –
hour-a-day information on state and federal
animal protection laws to dealers and
exhibitors licensed under the Animal Welfare
Act at 1-800-545-8732.
Agricultural engineer Robert Kok
of McGill University in Montreal is designing
a factory insect farm to produce 10,000 tons of
bug meat per day, for use in synthetic ham-
burgers and lunch meats. Press accounts have
erroneously described such products as “vege-
tarian.” Large-scale insect farming for food is
already underway in at least six nations.
October 2 “was the most successful
observance ever of World Farm Animals
Day, ” says Farm Animal Reform Movement
president Alex Hershaft, “with nearly 200
events throughout the U.S. and several other
countries.” Hershaft began the annual day of
protest against raising animals for meat in 1982.
Canadians for the Ethical
Treatment of Food Animalshas moved to Box
18024, 2225 W. 41st Ave., Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada V6M 4L3.
The Coaltion for Non-Violent Food
offers Factories of Despair, a brochure on fac-
tory farming, in bulk quantity for the price of
postage. Inquire at Box 214, Planetarium
Station, New York, NY 10024.
