A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: The Fair Oaks Video and Supporting One Another in the Midst of Crisis

By now, that despicable Fair Oaks Dairy undercover activist has made the rounds, outraging people left and right in both agriculture and the wider world. The outrage is different, depending on the camp you fall in, but within agriculture, it’s just another example of how we are simply the best (and that’s not a compliment) at tearing ourselves apart from within.

One of my best friends from college is a fellow dairy woman. She was raised on a dairy in Northern California, and her love for the industry, like mine, is boundless. At one point in their business, her family had to make a difficult choice. All the challenges in the industry were making it hard to be competitive, and switching to an organic production style was the best choice for them, their cows, and their dairy legacy.

Today she and I were talking about the Fair Oaks video, and particularly her frustration with people actually sharing the video, rather than just condemning or making a statement about it. You see, sharing bad/false/unconfirmed/something that makes you mad information on the internet does just the opposite of your intent. You’re bringing more likes, engagement, etc to something you’d really rather not have that kind of attention.

It’s called the Streisand Effect, a “phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the internet.”

The other part of her frustration was that in organic dairy groups that she’s a member of on social media, her cohorts in that industry segment were condemning Fair Oaks as a factory farm, and tearing down their fellows in the industry. What she had to say about it really struck me, and I wanted to share her words.

“Just because we are organic dairy farmers does not mean we are safe from animal activists. We also need to be aware about who we are hiring because they could be an undercover person who is actually trying execute the abuse just to get video footage for proof that farms are bad. For the dairy industry as a whole, I believe it is distasteful to bash the other side and pitch organic dairymen vs. conventional. We are all one industry and have different methods for how we manage our dairies. We can continue to promote organic, why we love it, why the cows love it, and what sets us apart WITHOUT speaking negatively about other dairies.It sickens me to watch that video and watch that abuse, but keep in mind, it only took a few bad people to give the whole farm a bad reputation. The reality is that most large dairies are in fact family owned. There are only a few actual “factory farms” and even on those large corporation dairies, they still care about the heath care of the calf and cow. Just my 2 cents. I love the dairy industry and these are scary times for all farmers.”

-Kayla Ghidinelli, organic dairy farmer in California        

 Kayla is absolutely spot on here. We have enough issues of our own without tearing each other apart from within. There’s less than 40,000 dairies left in the United States. Wouldn’t it be better to stick together, and lift all each other up, regardless of how we help our cows produce milk?

A fellow dairy family is in crisis here. They need our support. They need to know we’ve got their backs, no matter how they choose to run their business. They’re aware of the problem, and have taken extraordinary steps to correct it, and to prevent it from happening in the future. A rising tide lifts all boats.  Let us, as an industry, be that positive tide. A special thanks to the amazing Kayla Ghidinelli for her thoughtful insights and perspective. Follow her @the_kayla_g !