Changing the Food System Narrative at the Reducetarian Summit

By Harry Rhodes, Executive Director

Brian Kateman at the Reducetarian Summit

I’m writing this post from snowy Denver, where I just finished an exhilarating few days at the Reducetarian Summit. The Reducetarian Foundation is “dedicated to reducing consumption of animal products in order to secure a more sustainable, healthy, and compassionate world.” This foundation was started by Brian Kateman, author of the book Meat Me Half Way and director of the movie by the same name. I met Brian in Chicago in the spring at a screening of his movie and he invited me to speak at this summit. Thank you, Brian!

This summit brought together 600 people from a very diverse pool of organizations, all committed to ending factory farming. There was a considerable amount of discussion about plant-based alternatives to food from animals, including an entire session on the future of cultivated meats. Others discussed the best ways to fight factory farming and CAFOs through policy work and working with corporations to change their policies.

Vegans, vegetarians, flexitarians, omnivores, selectarians – are all reducetarians. We all have in common the goal of reducing the amount of meat coming from factory farms.

FACT represented a minority at this summit, with our focus on working directly with farmers. We at FACT believe that there is a humane alternative to factory farming, and that is represented by the nearly 12,000 humane farmers in our national network. Our farmers believe in ending factory farming by raising their animals humanely, on healthy pasture, regeneratively. These farmers have a deep respect for their animals and are producing healthy meat, dairy, and poultry without the need for massive amounts of antibiotics. These farms are also at the forefront of mitigating the harms of climate change, much of which is caused by factory farms. I did my best to represent these farmers and educate the others at the summit regarding this humane alternative to factory farms.

Some of our allies were also at the summit. Daisy Freund from ASPCA moderated a panel of regenerative animal farmers, all of whom are committed to developing a healthy, humane alternative to factory farms. Their stories were inspiring. We are fortunate to have partners such as ASPCA working with us to change this system.

Another interesting session was led by the Regenerative Organic Alliance, which certifies farmers as Regenerative Organic. The farmers on this panel were interesting and innovative, each with their own unique story.

I believe that by working together, all of the participants at the summit, can and are making a difference in our efforts to create a more humane, healthy, and climate-friendly food system for the future. It’s a difficult fight, considering the massive resources that industrial ag is pouring into preserving their system, which emphasizes profits over people, animals, and the planet.

There is a better future possible. We need to work with partners and with our network of farmers to change the narrative, to show that these humane farmers are really what American family farmers are all about.