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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

California's Proposition 2 regarding Animal Welfare

My reaction to Proposition 2 in California was one of immediate annoyance. I saw it as a ridiculous 'feel-good' way of improving animal husbandry that will actually, in the long run, benefit the same factory farms most people would like to see eliminated. Additionally, the small farmer who is already raising animals the 'right way' doesn't benefit from this prop at all. Right now, he or she has a powerful marketing claim that is used to differentiate small farm meat from factory farm meat. Even before the rules and regs resulting from prop 2 are implemented in full, huge meat producers will have all the 'feel-good' marketing in place making it even harder to distinguish between factory farm meat and local, small and humanely raised meat. Coupled with this further blurring of the apparent differences between these processes, consumers WILL pay more! Why not just start paying more now and buy your meat from local, sustainable and humane operations in your state. Your purchase there is so much more effective than the warm and fuzzy feeling you got when you pressed the YES! button next to Prop 2 in the voting booth. You've changed so little with your vote thanks to your tunnel vision.

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