New partnership strengthens animal ag knowledge and communications network
2023 August 28
Welcome back to my monthly series where I dig into hot topics on the agenda for safeguarding animal agriculture’s future. Last month, my post took a hard look at how animal agriculture can engage on the basis of persuasive facts to prove we are part of sustainability solutions.
Building our fact base and trust in our role in feeding a growing and hungry planet is going to require long-term focus and commitment across animal agriculture, as well as community-wide partnerships. Sharing information and amplifying each other’s voice makes our community stronger, which is why I am proud to celebrate the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s new partnership with the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA).
The partnership leverages the Alliance and NIAA’s respective areas of expertise to ensure sound scientific information is communicated effectively to key audiences. NIAA brings technical and scientific expertise to the partnership, based on its work to advance solutions for disease, while promoting a safe and wholesome food supply.
For example, NIAA hosted its 12th Antibiotics Symposium last year, connecting leaders from animal, human, and environmental health organizations to collaborate on research, education, and communications endeavors. The symposium explored, among other topics, the connection between environmental sustainability and One Health (the concept that the health of humans, animals, plants, and the wider environment are closely linked and interdependent).
For our part, the Alliance frequently fields questions from restaurant, retail and foodservice brands, registered dietitians, media, and thought leaders on responsible antibiotic use, as well as on issues like animal welfare and environmental stewardship. This partnership with the NIAA will give us greater access to technical experts in these fields to ensure we communicate accurate, science-backed, and expert-supported information to these audiences.
More specifically, the partnership will entail coordinating media responses on technical issues with third-party expertise, collaborating on the development and review of talking points, infographics, and other resources on emerging issues, and hosting regular joint issue updates with key stakeholders from each organization.
Advancements across animal agriculture have made enormous contributions in recent decades and continue to nourish the world with meat, dairy, poultry, eggs and seafood. Documenting and holding up these advancements is a key part of the Alliance’s mission, which also includes countering misinformation and extreme activism.
In July, we released our updated Animal Activist Web which visually portrays the interconnected nature of organizations claiming to work on behalf of animals, some of which that attack animal agriculture and spread misinformation seeking to deny the fact that raising animals for food is an essential part of society, diets, and future.
While reasonable people can discuss different approaches to healthy diets and sustainable food systems, there is nothing reasonable about the extremist tactics documented in our report on Radical Vegan Activism in 2022.
The report details these tactics and the biased viewpoints of many of the organizations featured in the Animal Rights Extremist Web, providing some sobering statistics. Nearly one-third of extremist attacks documented in 2022 targeted farmers and food workers, putting them and animals in danger. Documented direct actions include:
● 95 vandalism incidents
● 70 stolen animals
● 60 criminal trespasses
● 10 arson cases
● 9 harassment and intimidation incidents
Evidence and collaboration are our most powerful tools against this extremism. That’s why the Alliance is so proud of our partnership with NIAA and our participation in sector-wide efforts like the Protein PACT.
If these efforts speak to you, you can find more information about the Animal Agriculture Alliance and support our mission here.
Read the article on LinkedIn.
