Dear Mr. Pacelle

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” - Isaac Asimov

Dear Mr. Pacelle,For the second time this month, I had the dubious pleasure of listening to you hawk your new book on NPR.  I listen to NPR because I find it to be relatively balanced reporting with interesting stories that sometimes include the industry I come from, production animal agriculture. I confess myself disappointed with their interviews of you lately, though.

The first time I heard you, you were being interviewed by Diane Rehm.  The questions, the callers, and your answers served only to paint you in the most positive of lights, and to dismiss what you call industrial agriculture as evil, corporate, profit-driven entities.

The same thing happened a couple days ago with Tom Ashbrook of On Point.  Perhaps you and the interviewers imagine yourselves to be asking the “tough” questions, taking a hard look at the system that provides food not just for its own citizens, but folks around the globe.  My problem is the very unbalanced picture you present to an unsuspecting population that is three or more generations removed from the farm.

I’ve got to hand it to you sir, you are certainly very good at what you do.  You know the public is uninformed.  So you and your company, the Humane Society of the United States, (because you are NOT a charity…in fact you lost that rating not too long ago) prey upon that ignorance, secure in the knowledge that your brand is seen as honest and wanting to protect the public interest.

Mr. Pacelle, you’re not honest.  And you have no interest in the actual public good.  If you did, you’d stop trying to scare people into eating the way you believe we should.  You charge animal agriculture with “routine cruelty.” When I heard you use that phrase, I nearly drove off the road.  I come a from a large dairy farm (you’d call it a factory farm, but it’s been owned and operated by my family since the days when my great-grandfather milked four Guernsey cows by hand) and cruelty is absolutely not tolerated.

In fact, I wrote an entire essay detailing the love and care my family shows for our cows because I know some people have questions about it.  Know what is routine on our, and the vast majority of other farms? Utmost care and respect for the animals in our charge.  You talked about tail docking of dairy cows.  It’s not a dirty secret, despite what you’d like people to think. It used to be an industry standard for best management practices and animal welfare.  We used to practice this on our farm, believing that it helped keep our cows cleaner and healthier by keeping a manure-laden tail away from their sensitive udders.  In the last several years however, veterinarians and studies have found that tail docking is unnecessary in cattle, as we now have the means to better manage the environment surrounding the cow.  So we stopped.  We practice the pursuit of better on my farm.  We do the best we and the industry know how (through proven scientific methods, not just what sounds pretty or easy), and when we learn that we can do better, we start doing better.You talked about how all farmers are profit driven.  Of course we are.  You are too, sir.  Your multimillion dollar fundraising behemoth is much better at finding profits than us agriculturists who are at the mercy of markets, weather and consumer whim. The difference is our slim to sometimes nonexistent profit margins go towards trying to build a better world.  We feed our families, support our communities and local economies, and even have enough left over to send across our borders to nurture folks who are not as blessed in abundance as we are. HSUS’s profits, as far as anyone can tell, pay you a whopping salary and obstructs commerce and the public well-being.  Yes, the animals in our care make us money, but sir, so does your job.I don’t believe you care about animals at all.  Animal rights activism is just a convenient vehicle with which to build your brand and fortune.  Must be nice for you, but at the other end of your spurious efforts lie real people, with real families, caring for real animals who serve a real purpose feeding the very real problem of hungry people.  And this problem is only going to get worse, because I bet you know that the global population is expected to exceed 9 billion people in 30 short years.  We will be forced to make tough choices about how we use our land, and inevitably, the percentage of arable land will decrease.  Production agriculture will be forced to do more with less.  You are selling a feel-good but ultimately false premise that farming practices that involve more human labor, more land, and more time are better, when in fact the unavoidable result of these practices is increased starvation. Would you actually deny starving individuals in third world countries nutrient dense food simply because it’s not what you prefer to put in your mouth? I consider that the absolute height of arrogance, and the blatant lies and fear-mongering HSUS perpetuates and encourages put actual human beings at risk of starvation.Your preferred food system would be entirely plant-based.  You even bragged about technological advances in labs that have created a product that is, in your words, nearly indistinguishable from animal protein.  It bleeds, it has the same taste and texture as meat, and yet not a single animal was harmed in the making of it. That’s wonderful news for those who can afford it, but tell me just how many people are willing to pay for a $200,000 hamburger? You advocate for a food system that literally allows for middle-class and wealthy individuals to feel good about their shopping choices for completely erroneous reasons, while making it even more difficult for low income individuals around the world to simply survive.The kicker here is that the technological advances agriculture has made to increase efficiencies and gains and reduce our environmental impact are completely ignored by you and your ilk.  Why do you get to praise advances that further your agenda, and scorn the ones that make American agriculture the envy of the world? Ever heard of rennet, the stuff that turns milk into cheese? That used to be available only from the stomach lining of a calf.  Now it’s engineered in a lab, so everyone can have more Kraft Mac n Cheese, for less money and more peace of mind.  What about insulin? The development of that technology originally started with pigs.  Technology provides us new ways of doing old things better.  Why do you demonize that in agriculture, when our job is quite literally feeding the world?I could talk til I'm blue in the face about how we take the best care of our cows, how wanton antibiotic use serves no one, and how we don't pump our animals full of hormones, but a) I think you already know that and b) you wouldn't listen anyway.  Facts don't matter when you can sway people with doctored pictures of horrific animal abuse and throwaway phrases like "moral intentionality".  I know I won't change your mind.  My story is one you don't want to hear.  You don't want to know about me, my family, my cows because then you'd have to consider the enormous damage you're inflicting on people and an industry who for the vast majority are simply trying to do our best to feed people and take care of the animals we've loved since we were small.  But that wouldn't be near as sensational to talk about on National Public Radio.But there are people who do want to hear my story.  And I WILL talk to them till I’m blue in the face.  Because, Mr. Pacelle, people deserve a choice….and you’re trying to take one away.  Which is funny, because you talk about expanding consumer choices.  Take a hard look.  Your solution to a problem that is virtually nonexistent is to deprive people of free will.I will not be silent. I will not stand for bald-faced lies being told to my customers, who trust me and my family to bring them safe food.  We in agriculture maybe aren’t quite so quick to change tactics and adopt new strategies as you and your company are, but rest assured, Mr. Pacelle.  We. Aren’t. Going. ANYWHERE.