Dillon Law PC

HSUS( Human Society of the United States) has removed United Egg Producers  (representing 87% of egg producers) from the field of battle. United Egg and HSUS have jointly asked the federal government to impose national animal welfare standards for egg production.  Skipping over the state's rights and the concept of a limited federal government,  this national mandate would set the slippery slope for national level regulation of all animal production. Slippery slope is lawyer speak for once it is allowed in one context, it will be the jumping off point for further efforts to erode the previous way things were handled. When I read this, I couldn't help but think of the Wylde Nept song "The Gallows Wait" . The song's title and the lyric "my life was purchased with his lies" fit right in with the HSUS, PETA and other anti production groups methodologies. They lie and mislead the public while using government at all levels to build a structure  that will kill off the animal production industry.

HSUS wants regulations so that they can slowly tighten them to achieve their stated goal of the end of animal production. Iowa Farmers and their lawyers need to be aware, as this slow, insidious campaign will impact them and if left unchecked expose the operators to increased fines and fees, driving small operations bankrupt and slicing margins further for those that can handle the additional regulatory burden. From ballot initiatives in Arizona to local ordnances in Chicago, it is clear that these efforts are not the random acts of fringe operators, but rather a coordinated effort towards a specific goal.

Fighting back against this latest  attack  via  letter to the House Ag Committee include  the American Sheep Industry, the American Farm Bureau , the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the National Milk Producers Federation, the National Pork Producers Council  and the National Turkey Federation.  They assert, correctly, that creating national standards is not the appropriate method of regulating agriculture. Local producer groups should be just as concerned . Iowa is a top egg producer and the new standards would hit this state right away.

In a related front, PETA continues its efforts to guide the public’s perception against farmers. In Illinois, they have requested permission to place road side memorials on the highways where cattle haulers had wrecks that resulted in the death of cattle.  Not surprisingly, the markers that they want to erect would be placed in suburban Chicago and northwest of Peoria. Apparently where they die is just as important as dying.

The intent is clear, continue to provide increased costs of production and turn the public against the industry. Food should be a personal experience and modern ag producers need to remember that our end customer is not the cooperative or the dairy, but the end consumer. Keeping them connected to the farm and educated are key battle fronts in the never ending  guerrilla war wages against production ag by anti ag groups. If you don’t pay attention to the ground work being laid by opposing forces ,pretty soon all that  is left to do is put your head in the noose of the custom built gallows. At t hat point, it doesn't' t matter who you have representing you, a farming lawyer  or or some hack off the street.