Ballot measure gives Denver a choice the meat industry seeks to deny

A ewe and her lambs rest in their pen on April 21, 2006. (Stephen Ausmus/USDA/ CC BY 2.0

The animal agriculture industry is attempting to frame Denver’s proposed ballot measure to ban slaughterhouses within city limits as “ unfair ,” as it happens to impact just one business in Denver city limits, an industrial slaughterhouse owned by the national corporation Superior Farms .

But what’s really unfair is while other businesses are beholden to the rules of a free market, the animal agriculture industry relies on public funding to stay afloat. Meanwhile, powerful corporate interests have left the public with few options to combat businesses that harm animals and threaten public health.

If you find a business like Superior Farm’s unethical, you can’t simply stop paying them. Agribusiness has strategically denied us the ability to “vote with our dollars.” They take our money whether we purchase their products or not. Despite disease outbreaks, adverse weather events like droughts or floods, or shifts in consumer preferences, these businesses are kept propped up by a supportive structure of public subsidies that shield them from the threats that normally inspire businesses to pivot and innovate.

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Such government support programs include the United States Department of Agriculture’s Lamb Meat Adjustment Assistance Program , a four-year program that paid $50 million in incentive payments to lamb producers burdened by low prices and poor market conditions . Under that program, Superior Farms received $361,278 of our tax dollars.

Normal businesses must bear the burdens of bad choices or bad luck, but not the meat industry. They benefit from the USDA’s Livestock Indemnity Program , which compensates producers for the loss of animals from adverse weather, diseases, or predator attacks at a rate of $169 per ewe, $179 per lamb and a whopping $577 per ram. Since 2020, we have paid sheep producers $8,118,831 under this program. Imagine having a small business that shirked responsibility and forced neighbors to cover inventory losses after a string of bad luck or failure to adequately protect merchandise. And since about 30% of agriculture subsidies go to producing feed crops for animals, taxpayers are also footing the bill for their supplies. If the industry is the economic powerhouse they claim to be for Colorado, why are they dependent on these corporate welfare programs?

Consumers don’t automatically seek out slaughtered lamb to eat. They are coerced into it — and the American Lamb Board is the government program aimed at doing just that. Last year, the program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, spent $2.8 million to increase consumer demand for slaughtered lamb with the help of Midan Marketing , a meat marketing agency contracted by the ALB. By helping companies find their target market and craft a story, they manipulate our emotions and cravings, successfully removing the thought of killing lambs from the final product.

When we protect animals, we protect our own species, too.

Over the past several decades, these government programs have facilitated a drastic change in our diets. In 1961, the average meat consumption worldwide totaled only 50.4 pounds per person annually, while in the United States, we consumed 206.1 pounds. In 2021, that number jumped to 94.2 pounds per person per year globally and a massive 279 pounds per person per year in the U.S.

Most concerningly, though, we are denied the choice to opt out of the meat industry’s ever-escalating arms race against nature. Our increasing reliance on the killing of a handful of animal species as our protein source not only puts our food security in jeopardy but also creates conditions that foster viruses of pandemic potential. Whether we consume their products or not, the industry puts us at risk of becoming collateral damage.

We already see this happening in Colorado — 10 poultry workers contracted avian influenza while exterminating diseased chickens infected with the same strain. The virus has already jumped species , infecting dairy cattle, goats, cats, and a variety of other animals. Researchers say there may have already been a case of human-to-human transmission, with one cafeteria worker falling ill. Soon, the virus may develop further mutations needed to spread more effectively between humans.

Conversely, though, when we protect animals, we protect our own species, too. Researchers have shown that supporting slaughter-free food production would save us $7.3 trillion globally in health burdens and ecosystem degradation. But, instead of diversifying our portfolio of protein options, the slaughter-based meat industry seeks to limit our choices, recently banning cultivated meat in Florida and Alabama.

We deserve a choice, and the Denver ballot measure could finally provide one.

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