The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed systemic weaknesses and supply chain risks that undermine food security and our nation’s health.¹

Unfortunately, the USDA’s current prescription of bailing out the meat industry will only hurt more animals, workers, communities, and our planet.

Farm Sanctuary is calling on the USDA to direct funding allocated by Congress in the coronavirus stimulus package to support farms and businesses that produce fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and other healthy foods.

This week, Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary President and Co-founder, submitted a letter to the USDA, laying out the case for this demand.

We need your voice. Help us deliver this message by adding your support today!

During this unprecedented crisis, the USDA can play a critically important role in helping to make desperately needed reforms in our food system. Purchasing and distributing fruits, vegetables, legumes and other healthy foods, while incentivizing a shift toward plant-based agriculture would feed more people, while lowering the risk of future pandemics like COVID-19.

Helping farmers and food producers transition to plant-based agriculture is also in their own interest, as slaughterhouse workers are routinely at risk for injury and disease. Currently, thousands of workers at our nation’s largest slaughterhouses have fallen ill and more than a dozen have died in the pandemic, causing major disruptions in the meat industry.²

It is irrational and inappropriate for USDA to bail out factory farms and slaughterhouses that cause so much harm to people, animals and the earth, and that already demand a disproportionate amount of both government and natural resources.

Please add your name and tell USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack COVID-19 stimulus funding must go to farms and businesses that produce fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and other healthy foods.

Fruit and vegetable farmers, factory workers, and food banks all depend on USDA funding during these unprecedented times.

Sources: 1. Bergenstone, Kyle, Coronavirus at meatpacking plants worse than first thought, USA Today, April 22, 2020 2. Gibson, Kate, 13 U.S. meat industry workers have died of COVID-19, union says, April 24, 2020, CBS News

Header Photo Credit: Dusan Petkovic/shutterstock.com