Victories

On this page, we summarize some of the most important recent victories for humane, sustainable farming in the United States—both those that we helped to make possible and those accomplished by allies in reforming animal agriculture. For more on our recent work to move farming forward, meet the Farm Forward team, and learn about our mission.

In just the past year, we’ve seen some of the most exciting and encouraging victories to date in the fight against factory farming, and if this trend continues, we have every reason to expect major shifts in agricultural production methods in the near future. Farm Forward and our staff have played key roles in many of these victories, and we need your help to build on this success and to continue our important collaborative work with other nonprofits and progressive farmers.  

Motivating Corporations and Institutions to Improve Welfare Standards

Campaigns spearheaded by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have pushed corporations and educational institutions to create minimal standards for animal welfare and demand welfare improvements from producers. Negotiations led by Farm Forward CEO Steve Gross on behalf of PETA have contributed to a number of these important victories:

• KFC Canada reached a groundbreaking agreement with PETA that stands to dramatically improve the lives of the chickens raised and killed for KFC’s Canadian restaurants. Although KFC’s U.S. operations have not yet made any improvements, KFC Canada will now be using a progressive system of auditing and verification to ensure that changes are implemented and benchmarks achieved. 
• Burger King is now purchasing more than 5 percent of its eggs cage-free and plans to double that percentage. (If those numbers sound small, consider the fact that Burger King purchases 40 million pounds of eggs a year: Just 2 percent represents more than 6 million eggs.) The fast food company has also begun purchasing 10 percent of its pork from producers that do not confine breeding pigs in gestation crates. The volume will double to 20 percent by the end of the year. And they are now giving preference to chicken processors that use a more humane method of poultry slaughter called controlled atmosphere killing (CAK).
• Safeway is now purchasing 6 percent cage-free eggs and plans to double that percentage in just two years. Safeway is also beginning to favor CAK processed turkey meat and is pledging to increase the amount of both chicken and turkey purchased from CAK processors as supply becomes available. They are also phasing out pig meat from operations that use gestation crates.
• Whole Foods Market has made it a policy to refuse pork from producers that confine sows in crates, and along with Wild Oats Natural Marketplace and Trader Joe’s, it is now implementing cage-free-egg policies. Whole Foods is in the process of having all of their meat products rated using Global Animal Partnership standards.
• McDonald’s has begun purchasing eggs from suppliers that give hens more space, and in the past it has terminated relationships with suppliers that withhold food and water in order to increase egg production.

The Rise of Corporate Campaigns for Farmed Animal Welfare

With the assistance of Farm Forward CEO Steve Gross, PETA has developed a Corporate Campaigns division that has already achieved an unprecedented string of victories for animals. Restaurants such as Carl's Jr., Denny's, Hardee's, Panera Bread, and Popeyes have all recently made major animal welfare improvements following negotiations with PETA, and Farm Forward is currently working with PETA to improve animal welfare standards at Darden and D'Agostinos restaurant chains. PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich describes the role of these pro-bono consultations as "absolutely essential to building PETA's ability to influence and negotiate effectively with corporations—Steve has provided thousands of hours of pro bono consultation over more than 10 years, and without his input and selfless dedication, some of the greatest victories for farmed animals in U.S. history would not have happened."

Success in the Cage-Free Egg Campaign

In the past year, HSUS’s impressive “No Battery Eggs” campaign has helped to fundamentally change both legal and corporate standards for the way eggs are produced. The organization has worked with state governments to help push through bills that would permanently ban battery cages for hens in states like Arizona, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington. HSUS has also been instrumental in persuading major grocery chains—including Whole Foods, Andronico’s, and Trader Joe’s—to purchase only cage-free eggs, while grocers such as Safeway have agreed to implement a more humane purchasing preference.

Meanwhile, Burger King, Denny's, Carl's Jr., and Hardee's are beginning to phase out battery cages following negotiations with HSUS, PETA, and other animal protection groups. And more than 300 colleges, including Harvard University, University of California-Berkeley, and Georgetown University, have agreed to eliminate or decrease the use of eggs from caged hens in their cafeterias.

[Cage-free] eggs, from chickens raised in large, open barns instead of stacks of small wire cages, have become the latest addition to menus at universities, hotel chains like Omni and cafeterias at companies like Google. The Whole Foods supermarket chain sells nothing else, and even Burger King is getting in on the trend.” –The New York Times

Culture Makers Speak Up for Animals

Addressing issues of animal well-being and sustainability in farming requires a broad approach: Changing the way a nation eats is as much a cultural issue as it is a technical one. Reforming farming requires social and political action, but it also requires the work of writers, artists, scholars, and religious leaders. Farm Forward has assisted in several recent cultural victories along these lines:

Eating Animals by Bestselling Author 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.

Improving Religious Slaughter

Farm Forward continues to assist Israeli animal protection groups and 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 that 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 monitor the situation.

Celebrities Speak Out for Farmed Animals

Through the work of HSUS, PETA, and Farm Sanctuary, an enormous array of celebrities have endorsed improvements for farmed animals. This year, Sir Paul McCartney made headlines for speaking out about the devastating effects of factory farming on the environment and starred in a print ad advocating a vegetarian diet. Celebrities such as Kevin Nealon, Emily Deschanel, Russell Simmons, Rory Freedman, and Lisa Edelstein spoke up to urge Californians to vote “Yes” on the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which would stand to significantly improve the lives of millions of animals in the state. And Oprah Winfrey discussed cruelty to farmed animals on her show, even going so far as to try out a vegan diet for two weeks.

Wolfgang Puck Sets a Standard for Animal Welfare in the Culinary Industry

Celebrity chefs and culinary experts are clearly in a powerful position to influence what we eat, and it’s particularly important that they speak up for humane, sustainable agriculture. One of the cooking world’s biggest celebrities, Chef Wolfgang Puck, has done just that—and his newfound commitment to humane farming promises to have a far-reaching effect on the industry. Puck’s comprehensive new guidelines for his fine dining group of restaurants, franchises, catering services, and consumer products include a ban on the sale of foie gras (which is obtained by force-feeding ducks and geese until their livers become diseased), a commitment to obtain only cage-free eggs and to avoid pork suppliers that use gestation crates, extensive vegetarian options on the menus, and a preference for suppliers that use improved slaughter methods.

Having recently served on the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, and seen the tremendous public response to our report, and also brokered compromise legislation jointly sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States and the Colorado Livestock Association, I have great optimism regarding the future of farm animal welfare during the next decade." –Bernard Rollin, Ph.D.

Legislation to Improve the Lives of Animals

In the past, inadequate or nonexistent legislation to protect animals has kept the agribusiness industry—which is unlikely to make improvements on its own—from implementing significant changes in animal welfare. Fortunately, the last five years have seen some exciting possibilities for true legal protection of farmed animals in the form of progressive new legislation at the state level. Check out our legislation page for details.