Will Coggin of Consumer Freedom operating under the umbrella of the Berman Group recently exposed the sources of funding opposing intensive livestock production in North Carolina.  The state is a significant producer of pork, turkeys and broilers and accordingly has attracted the attention of organizations that have made common cause on the basis of environmental considerations and welfare to oppose livestock farming.  Consumer Freedom has identified One Earth fund and the Open Philanthropy Project as participating in publicity and action to sway public sentiment against intensive production.

The One Earth Fund has presented programs to indoctrinate young journalists. In their own statement, the One Earth Fund “provides philanthropic funding to climate change communication and education projects that can reach beyond the choir and change public opinion.”  One Earth Fund in collaboration with Journalism Funding Partners have engaged in paid-for journalism influencing local newspapers in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Winston Salem, NC. effectively covering the major population centers of the state.

Consumer Freedom has also identified areas of opposition to livestock production including the private Vermont Law School that has filed complaints with the Environmental Protection Agency alleging inadequate regulation of farms in North Carolina.  This appears somewhat incongruous given the fact that Michael Regan, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency was responsible for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality prior to his appointment to the federal agency.

Coggin also noted that the Environmental Clinic of the Vermont Law School was previously managed by Attorney Marianne Engelman-Lado.  She is now acting head of the EPA Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.  Ms. Engelman-Lado is an environmental activist previously associated with Earth Justice, an organization opposing intensive food production.

If the demands of the activists are met, production of protein food will be markedly curtailed, prices will rise accordingly and exports would be constrained or eliminated, with a deleterious effect on the national economy.  Environmental and welfare activists are effectively operating with their hands in the pockets and purses of American consumers. Although opposed to intensive production they can offer no alternative to production of food in the quantities required and at affordable prices as provided by current systems of farming. Although sustainability could be improved with appropriate capital investment and changes to production systems, radical constraints that would end intensive livestock production would be catastrophic to the availability of food in the U.S. and for those who rely on U.S. exports.