From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1996:

An agriculture student recently wrote to ask if we’d ever set foot on a farm––and
suggested that if we had, we wouldn’t oppose meat-eating, hunting, and trapping.
The student was undoubtedly surprised to learn that we hold the views we do, as
strongly as we do, precisely because we do have farming background. Until our recent
relocation from upstate New York to rural Washington, where we’re still not far from
farms, ANIMAL PEOPLE publisher Kim Bartlett had lived either on or beside working
farms for a decade. For nearly 20 years, ANIMAL PEOPLE editor Merritt Clifton not
only lived either on or beside farms, but also covered agriculture for various media, and
for more than a dozen years did hay work and other chores on both dairy and sheep farms in
trade for rent. Most of our regular freelance contributors likewise have farming experience,
are longtime rural residents, and honed their skills with rural media.
We have seen exactly what nine billion farm animals per year suffer on their way
to slaughter, not just during special investigations but as a matter of daily routine. We have
also seen the unhappiness of farmers who, through economic pressure, are obliged to treat
animals less and less as the farmers themselves feel animals ought to be treated, already
somewhat short of humane ideals, and more and more as insensate units of production.

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