HighestWelfare.Humane.Assured.GoodPractices.Vegetarian. Regenerative.Flexitarian.Lies...
What is the difference between No Welfare, High Welfare, and Highest Welfare when they all require animals to die? Only human comfort, NONE protect the actual animals. The most humane, ethical, and honest Webster-defined "welfare" is NOT exploiting animals - not using, not wearing, not eating, not killing - animals. The only meaningful position is vegan, everything else is just how humans euphemize animals' required suffering and violent deaths: no human exploits animals because they honestly believe that NOT exploiting animals is UNethical or INhumane.
Suffering Elephant Nosey Needs Your Help Today
Wikimedia Commons, not Nosey
BACKGROUND | SOURCE IDA
Long-suffering elephant Nosey will be forced to give rides at the Wolverine, Michigan “Lumberjack Festival” this weekend, June 28-30, 2013.
IDA, upon learning about this plan, immediately informed the festival board of exhibitor Hugo Liebel’s decades of documented abuse and neglect of Nosey, who he’s now calling Tiny. But the board still plans to have Nosey give rides at their festival.
More than a year ago the USDA filed a complaint against Liebel claiming over 30 welfare violations for which Liebel had repeatedly been cited between 2007 and 2011. These included failure to provide adequate veterinary care as well as safe handling violations that put Nosey and the public at risk. The charges were settled in March, and Liebel was fined.
In April, Nosey was barred from entering Maine because a TB blood test showed that she carries the antibodies for the disease, and because Liebel had reportedly failed to do required follow-up testing.
And now the Wolverine Lumberjack Festival is giving Liebel yet another chance to profit from his appalling treatment of Nosey. Nosey is constantly chained except when giving rides or performing unnatural tricks. Her terrible skin condition persists. Liebel’s mishandling presents a constant danger to Nosey and to the public.
IDA and our members have worked tirelessly on behalf of Nosey for years, and she needs your help again.
This festival should not support an exhibitor with such a history of contempt for Nosey’s welfare or for laws intended to protect people and animals.
Please send a polite email today, in your own words, to: lumberjackfest@hotmail.com asking them to cancel elephant rides at the festival.
As always, thank you for all you do for the elephants!
WHOM TO CONTACT
lumberjackfest@hotmail.com
SAMPLE COMMENT (using your own words is recommended)
Long-suffering elephant Nosey will be forced to give rides at the Wolverine, Michigan “Lumberjack Festival” this weekend, June 28-30, 2013. Please cancel these elephant rides at the festival.
Hugo Liebel has decades of documented abuse and neglect of Nosey, who he’s now calling Tiny. And now the Wolverine Lumberjack Festival is giving Liebel yet another chance to profit from his appalling treatment of Nosey. Nosey is constantly chained except when giving rides or performing unnatural tricks. Her terrible skin condition persists. Liebel’s mishandling presents a constant danger to Nosey and to the public: in April, Nosey was barred from entering Maine because a TB blood test showed that she carries the antibodies for the disease, and because Liebel had reportedly failed to do required follow-up testing.
Please do the compassionate action and cancel all elephant rides. It doesn’t require much to be kind to animals, and this type of action would go a long way to solidify your background as a compassionate animal caregiver.
Thank you for taking the time to consider this urgent appeal.
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Stop Big Ag From Silencing Whistleblowers!
Gestation Crates Wikimedia Commons
Please click HERE to sign petition
Source Take Part
Ag Gag laws across the country are outlawing undercover investigations and allowing corporate interests to act without impunity. Demand Congress take action to stop Big Ag from silencing whistleblowers!
Petition Text
Dear [Member of Congress],
I am calling on you to take action and stand against dangerous Ag Gag laws that are threatening to turn whistleblowers into criminals. Big Ag has been lobbying for legislation at the state level across the country, which would make it a crime to expose wrongdoing at animal and other agricultural facilities. These bills aim to outlaw undercover investigations and silence whistleblowers. History has shown that undercover investigations are often the most effective ways to expose illegal and unethical practices that put the American public in harm’s way. One undercover investigation of a slaughter plant in Chino, California, not only brought to light unsightly animal abuse, but also led to one of the nation’s largest food safety recalls.
These laws are a clear attempt by agribusinesses to intimidate whistleblowers from coming forward. That’s why we need comprehensive legislation at the federal level to protect whistleblowers.
Freedom of speech should be safeguarded, not sacrificed for corporate interests. I urge you to take action immediately.
Sincerely,
Read more…
URGENT: Unite to outlaw full inversion slaughter boxes
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED
OC Comment: ALL slaughter is inhumane and should be ceased, but this welfare issue is a matter of a particularly cruel form of slaughter. As an abolitionist, I understand this may seem contrary to the philosophy, but I’ve been asked to protest and agree with this monstrosity. Please protest.
BACKGROUND | SOURCE BAN LIVE EXPORT
Live export and farming lobby groups have been quick to tell the public they support animal welfare and would like us to work with them. Here’s their chance.
The Australian steer pictured above was brutally killed inside a ‘full inversion slaughter box’ in Israel. This box would be illegal in Australia, the USA and the UK due to the extreme suffering it causes. But it is still deemed an ‘acceptable’ way for animals to die in the live export trade.
Once inside the box, cattle are tipped off their feet and turned upside-down. Terrified and completely immobilised, their necks are outstretched and exposed for a fully conscious throat cut. Forcing cattle into this unnatural position causes severe distress. The agony and terror of this ordeal is undeniable.
What many Australians will find alarming is that this device has been assessed and approved for use under Australia’s live export regulations. Animals Australia has alerted the Australian Government to the terrible cruelty caused by this box, but so far our calls to have it banned have fallen on deaf ears.
We’re reaching out to farming groups because despite our differences, if ever there was one issue we should agree on, it’s that no animal deserves to endure this pain and suffering. And while live export continues for now, this needs to stop, IMMEDIATELY.
What are we asking of them? It’s simple. We want them to recognise the suffering caused by full inversion slaughter boxes and to choose to no longer allow exported animals to be killed in them.
They can make this decision today.
SAMPLE COMMENT
The full inversion slaughter box should be banned. This doesn’t reflect your idea of ‘animal welfare’. Please unite on behalf of animals to get ‘full inversion slaughter boxes’ banned once and for all. Please watch the following footage to witness the barbarity involved: www.vimeo.com/68603857
WHOM TO CONTACT
If you are on Facebook or Twitter, we need your help to publicly call on these groups (please note that on Facebook, you will need to “like” the group and then either post individually, or post under another comment):
- Cattle Council of Australia: Facebook
- National Farmers’ Federation: Facebook / Twitter (@NationalFarmers)
- Australian Livestock Exporters Council: Twitter (@Pennifold)
- The Pastoralists & Graziers Association of WA: Facebook / Twitter (@WAPastoralists)
- Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association: Facebook / Twitter (@dmw1808)
- AgForce Queensland: Facebook / Twitter (@AgForceQLD)
While our campaign continues, with your help we can save animals from the worst abuses of live export.
On behalf of animals, thank you!
Read more…
A Man Walks Into A Restaurant … A short story
From Huffington Post
By Ari Solomon
This is a test.
A man walks into a restaurant.
Well, actually a man and his dog, a cute-as-hell black Labrador pup… one of those dogs you can’t help but stop to pet on the street or in a park. A young hostess approaches and tells the man that dogs are not allowed in the restaurant, not even on the patio. Then the dog licks her hand. “He’s soooo adorable,” she quickly melts, and tells the man that just this once he can keep the dog with him, as long as the puppy stays in his lap. The man smiles and she shows him to his table.
After a minute, a waiter approaches. He also notices the puppy, but tells the man the owner won’t mind; the restaurant is brand new and different. “We’re a cutting-edge eco-friendly establishment,” the waiter says proudly, explaining that the only food they serve is sustainable and humanely raised. The man says that’s why he’s dining there; as an environmentalist, he loves the concept.
The waiter gives his customer a few minutes and then returns: “Have you decided?” The man, who has never even looked at the menu, smiles, “Yes, I’d like you to cook him,” he says, indicating his little dog.
The waiter laughs nervously: “We don’t serve dog in this restaurant. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.” No, the customer happily corrects him, it’s quite legal here, as it is in several other states. Besides, dog, particularly black dog, is considered especially delicious in some cultures. “And,” the man adds, “it’s the most eco-friendly meat around.”
The waiter winces, confused, as the customer continues: “You’re all about sustainable food, right?” The waiter nods. The man explains that five million dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters every year, their meat just tossed away. A shelter is where he got this dog. “If you’re gonna go local and sustainable, eating shelter animals beats the hell out of raising animals on farms, killing them, and trucking their meat around. Just kill the dog humanely — you know, like how you say the other animals served here are killed.”
“It’s a dog,” the waiter stares at the man, “eating them is totally different and disgusting. Dogs are like family members, they’re smart, they’re affectionate, they’re like us.” The man quickly counters, “But pigs are smarter than dogs. In fact, they’re as aware and intelligent as a four-year-old child. Chickens display striking personality traits from being curious to shy to proud, and they form extremely complicated social structures. Cows also have individual personalities. They actually lick you, just like dogs do, to show affection. And I’m sure we can agree that with regards to things like fear and suffering, that dogs, pigs, chickens, and cows are certainly equals.”
“So considering all that,” the man asks, “what’s really the difference if I want to eat this dog?”
Your assignment: Answer the man’s question.
RELATED
- There is nothing humane about suffering and killing. Ever.
- Understand and get started on veganism HERE
HELLACIOUS! GO VEGAN!
Source Miami Herald
By Elinor J. Brecher
The affidavits describe Bazan sawing the head off a live sheep (who) was writhing and bleating as he dragged (her) through “assorted construction trash,’’ then forced water “into the face of the sheep while (she) was still conscious, bleeding from the neck and struggling, attempting to turn (her) face away from the water.’’
As police officers hauled off three suspects in a stomach-turning, Homestead-area animal abuse case Friday, rescuers with livestock trailers, travel crates and cages swooped in to take about 75 surviving creatures to safety.
The raid, based on undercover video and eyewitness accounts by independent investigators from Miami Beach-based Animal Recovery Mission (ARM), took place at VIP Animal Sales, Southwest 257th Street and Krome Avenue in South Miami-Dade.
It was the culmination of an eight-month undercover investigation by ARM, which included a video that showed men repeatedly stabbing a squealing pig, tossing an apparently live, trussed goat into the trunk of a car, and cracking a rabbit on the back with a stick or rod, then skinning it alive.
ARM founder Richard Couto said that he and his colleagues saw young children — one of whom appears on the video — watching animals being inhumanely killed. He also reported seeing “the entrails of butchered animals being force-fed to starved animals on site that will also eventually be killed and butchered for human consumption.’’
All this, according to investigators, took place in the back part of VIP Animal Sales, which by law is allowed to sell live animals, some of which are used for religious sacrifice.
A sign out front depicts pigeons, turkeys, chickens, rabbits, guinea hens, turtles, ducks and goats.
Miami-Dade police arrested on animal felony cruelty charges: Andre P. Martinez, 45, of the 12000 block of Southwest 268th Terrace, Homestead; Daniel Lombana, 36, of the 26000 block of Southwest 139th Court, Homestead; and Juan M. Bazan, 51, of the 3100 block of West 78th Street, Hialeah.
Martinez and Lombana have lengthy criminal records.
Bazan and Marta A. Castillo are listed in county records as owners of the 4.89-acre property.
“This was a joint operation with the State Attorney’s Office, ARM, and the ‘Ag patrol,’’’ said Lt. Sheree DiBernardo of the Miami-Dade Police Agricultural Patrol unit.
According to the warrants, the suspects inhumanely slaughtered animals for meat in filthy conditions in the rear of the property, far from the roadside pens where buyers legally purchase live fowl and pigeons.
Even those unmoved by animal cruelty should be alarmed that tainted meat is making its way into the South Florida food supply, said Couto, who founded ARM, a nonprofit, after rescuing a thoroughbred horse from an illegal slaughter operation in 2009.
He called the suspects “violent and dangerous criminals’’ who “got enjoyment’’ from watching animals suffer.
The affidavits describe how Couto paid cash for animals that the suspects slaughtered on site. He said he was also offered fighting roosters starting at $500.
Cockfighting is illegal in Miami-Dade County.
As she loaded an underfed mare with diseased hooves into a trailer, Laurie Waggoner, director of ranch operations for the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said “ag patrol’’ officers called her to the same farm several weeks ago to take two starving paso fino horses: a stallion and a gelding.
The mare she fetched Friday is lame, Waggoner said. “Our vet gave her painkillers.’’
All three horses are recovering at the South Florida SPCA’s ranch in Southwest Miami-Dade.
Katha Sheehan, of Rooster Rescue, loaded fowl and pigeons into crates for a trip to a sanctuary. She said the chickens had fowl pox, a viral infection that produces both internal and external lesions.
She called the conditions in which the birds lived “nasty,’’ and said she’d been to VIP before.
“I’d stop in and buy chickens just to rescue them,’’ said Sheehan, who used to run The Chicken Store in Key West. “They looked so dirty, miserable and sickly.’’
The affidavits describe Bazan sawing the head off a live sheep that was writhing and bleating as he dragged it through “assorted construction trash,’’ then forced water “into the face of the sheep while it was still conscious, bleeding from the neck and struggling, attempting to turn its face away from the water.’’
Bazan then hoisted the animal by its back legs “all the while the sheep continued to bleed from the neck, cry out and struggle until the sheep finally stopped moving and was butchered,’’ according to the affidavit.
Lombana, the affidavit says, struck a rabbit on the back, then threw it “approximately four feet to the ground,’’ where it “began to move, twitch and struggle for approximately three minutes…
“The defendant picked the rabbit off the ground and sliced the rabbit in the center of is back with a long knife. The rabbit continued to struggle…,’’ the affidavit reads.
“The cruel dispatching of these animals at an illegal slaughterhouse is exactly what the Florida Legislature wanted to end when it created the animal cruelty statute,” said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. “Such unnecessary brutality demeans not just the people who do it, but those who would stand by and let it happen.”
Learn about veganism HERE or see below for a free kit
Vegetarian (Vegan) Starter Kit: Mercy For Animals
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Ebbie’ story is inspirational.
ebbie the beagle learned to fly.
he chose to live, not to die.
this little spirit, so hurt in the past,
his will to live…in freedom at last.
though at at the hands of man,
mistreatment obscene,
he chose to forgive,
not a bone in him mean.
ebbie soars on courage’s wings.
his world a flight of fancy,
as his huge heart sings.
he sees each day as
a life, renewed.
to all the people who save him
a great big ♥thank you♥
Karen Lyons Kalmenson
http://blip.tv/tailsofhope/40-beagles-saved-from-lab-testing-6606756
40 Beagles have been saved from Lab Testing. A closing lab in Spain meant 40 Beagles who had spent their entire lives behind bars and being tested on would need to find homes fast or be euthanized.
This is the story of one of them, Ebbie.
Put an End to Duck Shooting!
Please click HERE to sign petition
Source Animals Australia Unleashed
Every year, the wetlands of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania become gruesome scenes as thousands of birds are killed by gun-wielding hunters. And as if the legalised slaughter of wildlife wasn’t enough to get you outraged, it’s estimated that for every three birds caught at least one more escapes wounded — and is left to suffer or even die from their injuries.
It is estimated that every year, half a million birds are killed during the three month hunting season in Victoria alone. When you consider the birds that were injured but got away, the number of birds injured or killed by shooters in Australia each year is likely to be well over a million.
Well enough’s enough! We’ve got Vic, SA and Tas governments in our line of sight, and we need your help to speak up for ducks. Please help us to send a strong message to the Governments of Vic, SA and Tas, asking them to put an end to duck shooting!
Dog in mourning buries dead puppy in astonishing video
i found this baby on my way,
so exposed and disrespected
she cannot stay.
she never had a chance to
really live.
so what i have
to her i will give.
a blanket of earth,
a private place,
as she goes onto
the angel’s space.
Karen Lyons Kalmenson
Irony
Wikimedia Commons
Isn’t man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife – birds, kangaroos, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice, foxes, and dingoes – by the million in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billion and eats them. This in turn kills man by the millions, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative – and fatal – health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year, sends out cards praying for Peace on Earth.
~ C. David Coats
Click HERE to go vegan
Read more…
Please click HERE to sign
Source Change
By Valerie Parks
Target: Janice Wagaman, volunteer coordinator at City of Sacramento Front Street Animal Shelter
Goal: Urge animal shelters to adopt a policy of only offering animal-friendly menu choices at fundraising events.
Animal shelters frequently host fundraising events in order to support the ever-growing need of funding for their life saving operations. Often these organizations spend countless hours and resources rescuing dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, and animals of all types, yet they continue to offer meal choices that involve the suffering and slaughter of other animals. This petition urges the City of Sacramento Front Street Animal Shelter to adopt an animal-friendly policy when making food choices for shelter sponsored events.
The Sacramento SPCA has set an example by following the Food for Thought Campaign introduced by Animal Place, a sanctuary for farm animals. The campaign merely asks animal shelters and rescue organizations to adopt an animal-friendly menu policy that is more in line with their ethical beliefs and actions towards animals. Why love one and eat another?
The City of Sacramento Front Street Animal Shelter recently rewarded volunteers with a barbecue consisting of hot dogs and hamburgers. The shelter also benefits from fundraisers at Big Spoon Yogurt with the slogan “Treat Yourself, Give a Little,” and at Jamie’s Bar and Grill under the slogan “Dogs for Dogs.” This is ethically inconsistent for the Sacramento Front Street Shelter to endorse the pain and suffering of one animal in order to benefit another deemed more worthy of our time and money. Please urge the Sacramento Front Street Shelter to adopt an animal-friendly, vegan menu for all fundraising events.
Take action to end Japanese whaling
Please click HERE to sign and send petition
Source Australian Marine Conservation Society
On June 26th 2013 the Australian Government begins its long awaited legal case against Japanese whaling in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. In the dock is the Government of Japan and their programme of whale slaughter in the name of scientific research.
Support for and consumption of whale meat have long been declining in Japan. It is time that the Government of Japan caught up with public opinion in their own country and across the globe. Please take action and send the letter below to Japan’s Ambassador in Australia. Please do add your own comments. Please do be passionate, but also please be respectful.
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Help End Iceland’s Illegal Whale Hunt!
NRDC BioGems
Please click HERE to sign and send petition
Source NRDC
After a two-year hiatus, Iceland has resumed its illegal slaughter of endangered fin whales this month — and plans to kill up to 184 of them this year alone. Despite diplomatic sanctions imposed by the U.S., Iceland also continues to slaughter minke whales and to export whale meat and products to Japan. NRDC is calling on Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to step up the pressure by targeting Icelandic companies with ties to the whaling industry for tough economic sanctions. Make your voice heard!
See more pictures HERE.
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Cat nurses week-old abandoned puppy
Cleveland Animal Protective League/AP
Source Yahoo News
A pit bull rejected by (his) mother is being taken care of by an unlikely surrogate: A mama cat.
When Noland was merely 1 day old, he was taken to the Cleveland Animal Protective League without his mother.
“Obviously a 1-day-old puppy, even in the best of circumstances, [the chance of survival] is pretty iffy,” Sharon Harvey, president and CEO of the CAPL, told Yahoo News by phone. “We want to give him every chance we could.”
The staff decided Noland’s best chances were to join a litter of nursing kittens. The question: Would the cat accept a puppy into her brood of four? Amazingly, mom-cat Lurlene welcomed the outsider.
The image says it all: The pit bull is being nursed back to health by a very tolerant feline.
“They’re a happy family now,” said Harvey.
For anyone in love with the orphaned pup who might want to take him home, he’s not quite ready for adoption.“Noland is going to be with us for quite a while,” Harvey told NewsNet5. “We need to be really sure with him. We’ve got to focus on giving him the care he needs right now.”
In addition to spending eight to nine hours a day with the newborn kittens, the now-week-old pit bull, already growing bigger than the kittens, is being bottle-fed and taken home by staffers who watch over him at night.
The little guy has a ways to go before he’s in the clear. But a team of staffers—including a cat—have stepped in to help. Harvey remains hopeful—and touched by the simple gesture of a cat saving a dog.
“It’s really crazy what animals can do to give us hope,” she said. “Talk about acceptance.”
The nutrition and nurturing Lurlene provides Noland are giving him a chance at life.
“We definitely want Noland to have the happy ending that he deserves,” Harvey said.
Second Irish Live Export consignment has arrived in Libya: stop this trade immediately!
Compassion in World Farming
Please click HERE to take action
Source Compassion in World Farming
A new front has opened up in the war on live exports. In February, Ireland restarted the trade in live cattle with Libya. The re-emergence of this trade after 10 years poses a disaster for animal welfare and the reputation of Irish farming.
A second consignment has arrived in Libya.
Ireland to Libya – suffering piled on suffering
The journey in February by boat from Ireland to Libya took 9 days – not including the journey to Waterford port and the onward journey in Libya. Animals suffer terribly during long journeys. But for these animals the end of the journey will bring no relief. Slaughter conditions in much of North Africa are frequently inhumane, with completely unacceptable practices being commonplace.
Australia has recently suspended all exports to Egypt following horrific images of the treatment of cattle being mistreated in Egyptian slaughterhouses. Egypt are a member of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and should meet OIE standards for the treatment of animals in transport. This latest footage shows that this is clearly not the case. It is likely that the conditions animals face in Libya will be similar to those in Egypt.
Demand the Irish Government takes action
The Irish Government has given its full support to the resumption of the live export trade with the Agriculture Minister, Mr Coveney, describing it as “progress”.
At the same time, Ireland is currently President of the Council of the European Union and, as part of this role, they hold the Presidency of the EU Agriculture Council.
Allowing this trade to go ahead – in the face of the extreme suffering it will cause and strong public opinion – clearly shows it would be unacceptable for the Irish Minister to act as President of the EU Agriculture Council when animal welfare is on the agenda.
Inhumane journey by road and sea
Long journeys are stressful for animals and can include:
deprivation of food and water
lack of rest
poor handling by humans
overcrowding
insufficient headroom
stress caused by noise and vibration
Cruel slaughter
Previous Compassion investigations into slaughter conditions in North Africa/Middle East have found:
animals being roughly – even brutally – handled
animals dragged into the place of slaughter
cruel methods of handling e.g. the leg tendons of cattle being severed with a knife to control them
OC comment: all slaughter is cruel and inhumane, there is no HUMANE way to kill a living being. It is a contradiction.
Read more…
The House farm bill fails 195-234. So what happens next?
Wikimedia Commons
Source The Washington Post
By Brad Plumer
The House just voted down the five-year, $940 billion farm bill on the floor. The final tally: 195 yeas and 234 nays. This was unexpected, to say the least. Farm bills have historically sailed through Congress without too much trouble.
Yet the House farm bill, supported by the GOP leadership, has faced a particular dilemma. Most Democrats opposed the revised version because it cut spending on food stamps for low-income families by $20.5 billion over the next 10 years.
On the other hand, many conservative Republicans also opposed the bill because it didn’t cut spending enough. Squeezed on both sides, the bill failed after House Speaker John Boehner brought it up for a vote.
So what happens next? The White House, recall, had already threatened to veto the House farm bill because of its cuts to food-stamp programs. So it likely wasn’t going to become law anyway. But if the House bill had passed, Republicans could have at least gone to conference and tried to reconcile it with the $955 billion Senate version, which contained far lighter cuts to food-stamps funding.
So now House Republicans will either have to start over — or, possibly, go to conference without a bill and try to negotiate something with the Senate. (Update: As Deron Lovaas reminds me, this is basically what happened when the House failed to pass a highway bill last year. House lawmakers would still have to approve whatever bill comes out of conference, however.)
And what if Congress can’t pass any farm bill at all? In theory, the country would eventually revert to the agricultural rules written back in 1949, when the last permanent farm bill was enacted (subsequent bills have all been temporary). That 1949 act was crafted for a very different United States, with smaller crop production and higher consumer prices. So, for instance, dairy prices would skyrocket once outdated price supports came back into effect.
There was a real possibility of a lapse last fall, when Congress failed to agree on a new farm bill in 2012. (Here’s a primer on all the weird things that were poised to happen.) Back then, Congress temporarily sustained most of the existing farm programs for another year through continuing resolutions and the fiscal-cliff deal. This time around, either Boehner figures out how to pass a farm bill, or lawmakers will need to start looking at temporary fixes. Or we party like it’s 1949.
Further reading:
–What the Senate farm bill does. What the House farm bill does.
– Here’s what happens when the farm bill expires and we revert to 1949 law.
Read more…
Our Compass 