Our Work
Largely out of public view, factory farming began on America's poultry farms in the 1920s and quickly spread to every sector of the meat, dairy, and egg industries. Factory fishing, including fish farming, quickly followed. The use of new technologies could have been a positive development, but instead it has ushered in an era of factory farming and fishing that has brought with it systematic abuse of animals, pollution of the environment, and destruction of rural life. Today, virtually all1 of our nation's meat, dairy, and eggs are produced on factory farms, and nearly all seafood comes to us from factory fishing.
But resistance to this destructive trend in modern meat, dairy, egg, and seafood production is mounting. These factories may again become farms.
Incorporated in 2007, Farm Forward is a nonprofit advocacy group at the forefront of pragmatic efforts to transform the way our nation eats and farms. Our executive staff and board have been working on behalf of farmed animals since the early 1990s, and this accumulated expertise informs Farm Forward's unique role as the first centrist organization where disparate interests opposed to the abuse of animals on factory farms can unite in coordinated and effective ways.
From years of innovative efforts to improve conditions on farms and in slaughterhouses worldwide, we have built a unique network of strong relationships with animal welfare experts, food retailers, nonprofit animal advocacy organizations, religious leaders, scholars, small farmers, and writers concerned about farmed animal welfare. This unprecedented network and our tight focus on rolling back factory farming allows us to enhance the effectiveness of existing organizations and implement comprehensive new strategies that are unavailable to other groups.
Below are some of our current projects. We hope you'll join us in moving farming forward.
Exposing Factory Farming With Bestselling Novelist Jonathan Safran Foer
Time ranks Farm Forward Board Member Jonathan Safran Foer among the writers who have become a "voice of this generation." The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Esquire call him "brilliant." His works have been translated into 30 languages, and his first two novels have sold more than 1.3 million copies. Foer's third book, written in close collaboration with Farm Forward, is a unique exploration of the issues that arise from factory farming and the alternatives that are available to conscientious consumers. Foer's deeply personal exposition of Farm Forward's vision was released in November 2009.
Creating the First Post-Factory Farm Chicken Supply
Good Shepherd Ranch is a unique network of heritage poultry farmers that includes the nation’s preeminent expert on poultry, Farm Forward Board Member Frank Reese. Good Shepherd Ranch is currently the only nationally available source for poultry products that come from birds who are not genetically engineered and who are raised by traditional, humane, and sustainable methods. The ranch has served as the model for animal welfare standards developed by several nonprofit groups. Today, Good Shepherd Ranch can only supply a small number of turkeys, ducks, and geese to a select few, but, with pro-bono assistance from Farm Forward Consulting, Good Shepherd Ranch is on the verge of becoming the first—and only—national producer of truly humane, sustainably raised chickens. Join our mailing list to find out when production has begun.
The work of Farm Forward, and especially the leadership Ben Goldsmith has provided, has been of decisive importance to me and all of us at Good Shepherd. Without their ongoing support my work would come to a standstill. There are plenty of people who have tried to help with the best of intentions, but good intentions aren't enough. Farm Forward's hands-on, practical assistance—on my farm and in the public square—is absolutely essential. At a time when almost no one is talking about the crucial importance of preserving both genetics and husbandry techniques, they are. They see what needs to be done and they have the know-how to help make it happen. Farm Forward and Ben get it." –Frank Reese
Creating a New Future for Poultry
Farm Forward Consulting is also providing pro-bono support to Frank Reese to create the Standard-Bred Poultry Institute, a first-of-its-kind institution that will provide support to farmers interested in transitioning into humane and sustainable poultry production on the model of Good Shepherd Ranch. Reese’s unparalleled expertise in poultry farming and his unique work at the Good Shepherd Ranch have earned him high praise from, among many others, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and celebrity chef Mario Batali. Reese has been profiled by The New York Times, ABC, NPR, and Martha Stewart.
Promoting Conscientious Consumption Through Social Media Marketing
Facebook's 59 million active members and MySpace's 300 million accounts show the vast reach of social networks on today's Internet, but most businesses are only just beginning to harness the power of these sites to reach new audiences. Farm Forward's network has been on the cutting edge of this trend, using social media websites and other emerging Internet technologies to spread a message of conscientious consumption to a wide audience that is less and less easy to reach through traditional marketing. As one of many innovative Internet marketing campaigns to promote exceptional content, we will shortly be launching a unique website for Jonathan Safran Foer's forthcoming book on factory farming and using online social networks to spread news of the website—and its anti-factory farming message—to tens of thousands of Internet users.
Advancing Scholarship and Undergraduate Teaching That Promotes Critical Reflection on Farmed Animals
Changing the way we eat and produce animal products requires us to think in fresh ways about the cultural and religious beliefs that inform our views about animals. Scholars in the humanities play a key role in this task, both in their research and through undergraduate teaching. Farm Forward supports talented, energetic scholars who are committed to developing these areas of research and teaching. This year, we’re supporting Dr. David Clough of the University of Chester (UK) with a $1,000 grant to attend the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting—a gathering of more than 5,000 scholars of religion—where he will present his work in the Animals and Religion Consultation. Clough, also a Methodist lay preacher, holds degrees in Christian theology and thought from Cambridge and Oxford universities and a Ph.D. in religious ethics from Yale University. He recently completed an edited volume presenting a theological approach to animal life (Creaturely Theology, with Celia Deane-Drummond, due out with SCM Press in 2009) and is currently doing research for a 2-volume work that will provide the first “systematic theology” (a particular discipline of theology) for the role of animals in Christianity and address related ethical questions.
Improving Slaughter in South America
Because of Farm Forward's special commitment to work with religious leaders, the group has been uniquely situated to assist People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) with a campaign to end a hideous method of slaughter known as "shackle and hoist" that is currently standard practice in kosher slaughterhouses in Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil which export meat to Israel and the United States. After PETA investigators obtained undercover video footage detailing the full extent of suffering that this method entails, Farm Forward consulted pro bono to determine specific welfare improvements that could be made and facilitate cooperation with Jewish leaders who urged the slaughterhouses to end this inhumane practice. Just days after the video documentation was made public, the Chief Rabbi of Israel announced that "shackle and hoist" slaughter would be phased out in South America. Farm Forward continues to coordinate efforts between animal welfare organizations in the United States and Israel (who buy most of this meat) and Jewish leadership to ensure that these changes are implemented as quickly as possible.
Encouraging Best Auditing Practices for Improved Animal Welfare
Farm Forward CEO Steve Gross has helped lead successful negotiations between animal advocacy groups and some of the nation's largest companies—including Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, Safeway, and Whole Foods—which have improved the lives of hundreds of millions of animals. Gross is currently working with animal advocacy groups such as Global Animal Partnership, The Humane Society of the United States, and PETA to address the urgent need for increased auditing to ensure that companies properly implement animal welfare improvements following a negotiation. Experience has shown that auditing, which is often neglected, is a crucial part of real progress in chipping away at the most troubling methods of factory farming.
- 1. Farm Forward calculation based on U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2002 Census of Agriculture, June 2004; and Environmental Protection Agency, Producers’ Compliance Guide for CAFOs, August 2003.
