Foraging Ahead: Save Our Bacon Farmer Fly-In

Life (and policy) comes at you pretty fast. 

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Earlier this month I was invited by Compassion in World Farming (CiWF), along with other pasture-based pig farmers from across the country, to travel to Washington DC and participate in an advocacy fly-in. After weeks of inaction, the Senate Ag Committee was working to move the Farm Bill out of committee and on to the Senate floor for voting. This landmark moment was made increasingly important as Senator Ernst from Iowa was driving hard to add an amendment that would enshrine the Save Our Bacon Act in the senate’s Farm BIll mark-up. The FACE Ag Network has long campaigned against the SOB Act (or anything like it), and I was in DC to do all I could to convince our legislators to not support a bill if that harmful language was included. 

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Simply put: if added to the farm bill, the Save Our Bacon act would be a huge blow to independent and humane, hog producers across the country, and offer an equally big gift to the top four (Smithfield, JBS, Tyson, and Seaboard Foods) industry giants that control over two-thirds of pork processing in the US.  

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As the big four’s top apologists - the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation - flipped the switch on their well oiled and well funded lobbying machines, a coalition of sustainable agriculture groups scrambled to get pasture-based farmers to DC to counter their teams of handsomely paid lobbyists and stable of factory farm producers trained and practiced in touting the party line.

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Fortunately, FACE was able to marshall two of our members in the lobbying effort. In addition to myself, I was joined by  Anna Pesek, our Central Region FACE Ag leader of Over the Moon Farm. Anna was already booked to join the National Farmers Union legislative fly-in as part of the Iowa Farmers Union delegation, and had the admirably tough task of meeting with the lead sponsors on the bill, Senator Jodi Ernst and Representative Ashley Hinson. In addition to our scheduled meetings, FACE coordinated with a reporter from Agri-Pulse to shadow our time on the hill and share the perspectives of farmers participating in advocacy - keep an eye out for us sharing the printed story soon! 

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I was a part of an IL delegation that included four other humane pig farmers, and we hoped to meet with our representatives as a cohort. We were fortunate enough to secure meetings with our Senators later in the week, but had been unable to lock-down times with our congressional reps - something not uncommon when participating in a DC fly-in. A lot of preparation goes into organizing the effort, but it requires flexibility, creativity, and, sometimes, a bit of moxie.  

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Matt Dominguez of Compassion in World Farming (part of the coalition fighting for a more humane farm bill and AGAINST the Save Our Bacon Act), joined us on our IL cohort. After we were unable to schedule meetings with our representatives, he recommended we just go directly to the Rayburn Building (where Congressional offices are found), as we should all feel encouraged, as farmers, to drop-in on our representatives to ensure they’re directly hearing from the folks they work for. Lo-and-behold, our drop-ins resulted in establishing meetings with the lead legislative staffers of both Congressman Bill Foster and Congresswoman Lauren Underwood. To top it off, after hearing our stories, both reps joined us in opposition to the SOB! This was especially heartening as Rep. Underwood is on the House Ag Committee, and in a position to sway meaningful votes.

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After successful meetings with our congressional representatives, we were poised to meet with our Senators. Walking the halls of Senate offices is intimidating. There’s TSA-like security at the entrances, impressive marble columns, art work, US flags and intense staffers power striding down the hallways. Foreign dignitaries in ceremonial clothes wait in the reception area with you. History weighs heavy, and it’s clear that you’re meeting with formidable people. The US Senate - one hundred people - wield immense power. It’s easy to think that they will dismiss you and your story.  The thing is, they WANT to hear from you! Again and again, I’ve heard from staffers that “we need to hear from more farmers like you”,  “I didn’t know that a gestation crate is that small” or “The Pork Producer’s lobbyist told us….”. Not every senator will agree with you or come around to support our issues, but our stories are powerful and they DO have an impact. Know this -  factory farms have lobbyists shading the halls of congress all the time, and we need to step up, travel to our statehouses and DC, and bring the joy and sunshine of our sustainable farms’ stories with us. I assure you, it’s making a difference. 

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We began our meetings with Senator Duckworth’s legislative staffer, who affirmed that the Senator would oppose the SOB - painless! Next up was our meeting with Senator Durbin’s office. Durbin is a member of the Senate Ag committee, and an important player in shaping our agricultural policy. This was the fifth meeting I’ve had with the Senator’s staff - in the four previous meetings, his staff declined to commit to opposing the SOB Act, but this time the Senator stood staunchly in opposition to the SOB! Try and try again - farmers can in fact persuade our lawmakers! 

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All of this work culminated in the Senate Ag Committee passing their mark-up of the Farm Bill out of committee - WITHOUT the SOB amendment included! Upon learning of their decision, I immediately texted other FACE farmers to say “when we keep showing up, we win.” The FACE Ag Network is going to keep showing up and you can, too.