Advocating for Change: FACT’s Policy and Partnership Work
By Harry Rhodes, Executive Director
FACT believes in transforming our food system so that all food animals are raised in a humane and healthy way, and that all food from animals is safe and healthy to eat.
FACT and partners at the Farmer Rally for Climate Action in Washington, DC
We work to achieve this vision through our Humane Farming and Safe and Healthy Food Programs. In addition, we are very active in the advocacy field, promoting policies that are good for farm animal welfare, good for farmers, and good for human health.
We partner with other like-minded organizations to promote this transformation. We are members of two organizations that are doing incredible work.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) – this is a national alliance of grassroots organizations whose vision of agriculture is one where a safe, nutritious, ample, and affordable food supply is produced by a legion of family farmers who make a decent living pursuing their trade, while protecting the environment, and contributing to the strength and stability of their communities. NSAC depends on active member participation for its success. FACT participates in many virtual policy meetings, as well as at least one Members Meeting a year, plus Capitol Hill Lobby Days. NSAC produces reliable analysis and policy updates that we depend upon.
The HEAL Food Alliance – HEAL is a national multi-sector, multi-racial coalition of 55 organizations, including farmers, ranchers, fishers, farm and food chain workers, and many more activists. HEAL is building collective power to create food and farm systems that are healthy for families and communities, and fair to the working people who grow, distribute, prepare, and serve our food – while protecting the air, water, and land we all depend on. We participate in HEAL’s ongoing policy and working groups, support their policy initiatives, including their call for a Farm Bill that supports thriving futures for all people and our planet. We also participate in HEAL’s annual gathering, which brings together organizations working for a fair and equitable food system.
Finally, FACT is working for a better future for food animals and humane farmers. We are partnering with ASPCA to build the FACE Agriculture Network, a national network for farmers, animals, community, and the environment. This Network will advocate for the transition to higher welfare practices with state and federal lawmakers and their peers and become a home for farmers and ranchers who place the humane treatment of animals at the center of their production philosophy. This network is in its early stages of development. You will hear a lot more from us as it develops.
We are working to change the narrative of animal agriculture from one that focuses on large, confinement farms to one where animal welfare is at the center of farming, where animals are raised in humane conditions outdoors and in their natural settings. To bring about this transformation we need to work directly with farmers and ranchers, we need to work with consumers who place a premium on purchasing food that has been raised humanely and is healthy for their families, and we need to work with policymakers so that they will support small and mid-size farms and farmers instead of large industrial farms.
This is the transformation that we at FACT envision for the future of our food system.