The Farm Report
Walmart's Animal Welfare Position & More
Keeping strong with the exploration of the meat industry in collaboration with Slow Food USA, on The Farm Report this week Erin Fairbanks is on the line with Gabriel Krenza of both the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Green Sports Alliance. Talking about his role in expanding and enhancing the NRDC's food network and relationships as well as developing strategy for the sports industry on the issue of healthy food options for fans, Gabriel updates listeners on the current issues that the NRDC is working on in the food space plus weighs in on Walmart and Sam's Club recent stance to encourage meat and egg suppliers to curb antibiotic use along with adopting more humane treatment of animals. Leah Garces of Compassion in World Farming joins the show sharing a detailed look at the Walmart news, stating that this headline comes in a year when retailers and restaurants across the United States are moving away from closed confinement systems such as gestation crates, battery cages, and veal crates and are adopting overarching farm animal welfare policies for the first time. Recently, food service giants such as Nestlé, Starbucks, and Aramark actually released similar policies. Rounding out the show, Erin speaks with Steve Pennings of Pennings Farm via our friends at EscapeMaker.com. Steve tells all the great things to do at his family's farm this summer into the fall seasons from the garden center, cafe, petting zoo, to tasting some craft brews or their own cider! This program was brought to you by EscapeMaker.com.
"What's fascinating about the livestock industry is that it really does transcend so many different issues; whether it be land use, water quality, climate, also government subsidization and where different government resources go to support it." [9:25]
--Gabriel Krenza on The Farm Report
"What we're talking about doing in the US is a legislative minimum in the EU but that doesn't mean that it's not hard and that companies don't need help and don't need support getting to that minimum, and that's what we're here to do." [39:53]
--Leah Garces on The Farm Report