Last week, I attended the Illinois Pork Producers visioning session. Among lots of discussion on feed supply (i.e., will there be any?) and gestation stalls and HSUS, they shared this video. It was released last week, only then it featured Costco. This week, the link is updated and takes you to the same video, but with Wal-Mart's name instead of Costco's. According to the Associated Press, Mercy for Animals had been preparing to release the video, which was shot in a sow barn at Minnesota-based…

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It incensed me when a first saw it, and reviewing it again after a month’s time didn’t do it any favors. During a session at last month’s Commodity conference, Wes Jamison, a Palm Beach Atlantic University professor, presented his research and findings on the Humane Society of the United States. He’s spent a career studying the animal rights movement, and specifically the communication behind it. He revealed that HSUS in 2002 decided that they needed a moral component…

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In my column this month, I wrote about the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and their whitewashing animal rights tactics – raising money by calling attention to puppy mills and dog fighting, then using that money to fight for the end of animal agriculture. HSUS has worked diligently the past several years to legitimize their organization, to mainstream themselves.   HSUS, of course, stands in stark contrast to PETA, a group that’s worked hard to act crazy. No stunt is too…

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I’m sure “watching Oprah” is not at the top of your to-do list this fall, but you might find something interesting next week. On Tuesday, October 14, the Oprah Winfrey show is taking on animal agriculture – and one Illinois farmer has a starring role.   Matt Kellogg is a hog farmer from Oswego, Illinois, and also a college classmate of mine. He taped the show one day this past week, and gave National Geographic reporter (and frequent Oprah contributor) Lisa Ling a day-long tour of his…

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Remember a couple weeks ago, when everything political suddenly began to revolve around lipstick and hogs? As silly as it all was, the Illinois Pork Producers saw it as a prime opportunity to offer up a little porcine education, sending something of a care package to the Obama and McCain campaigns.   The idea, said IPPA executive director Jim Kaitschuk, came about after the association received actual media calls wondering what would happen if someone tried to put lipstick on a pig. Really…

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