Personal
- Visit the Sierra Club Food and Agriculture Team website to learn more:
https://www.sierraclub.org/grassroots-network/food-agriculture
https://www.sierraclub.org/grassroots-network/food-agriculture/cafos - Eat fewer meat, dairy, and egg products.
- Choose foods sourced by farms that raise animals in unconfined settings using agricultural practices (e.g., regenerative) that improve ecosystem health and prioritize animal welfare.
- Explore the Plant-Forward approach to cooking & eating exemplified by Menus of Change® (a joint initiative between Harvard School of Public Health & the Culinary Institute of America)
Local
- Support local farmers
- Shop at farmers’ markets and food coops that support local farmers and sell non-CAFO animal food products
- Patronize u-pick farms and farm stands
- Consider joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)
- Consult a local or national directory to find out where you can purchase and dine on eco-
friendly and humanely-raised animal foods.- Eatwild: https://www.eatwild.com/index.html
- Local Harvest: https://www.localharvest.org/organic-farms/
- Eat Well Guide: https://www.eatwellguide.org/guides
- National Guide to Finding Local Food (National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition): https://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/national-guide-to-finding-local-
food/ - Real Organic Project: https://www.realorganicproject.org/rop-certified-farms/
State
- Contact your Sierra Club state chapter and voice your concerns and inquire about their efforts to resist CAFOs: https://www.sierraclub.org/chapters
- Join the Sierra Club and get involved: https://www.sierraclub.org/
Federal
- Promote the Farm System Reform Act, which would transition from CAFOs toward a more resilient food system: https://addup.sierraclub.org/campaigns/help-block-new-factory-farms
Watch these eye-opening documentaries exposing CAFO harms:
- Right to Harm: https://righttoharm.film/
- Sierra Club-sponsored panel discussion (members featured in the film): https://www.sierraclub.org/grassroots-network/food-agriculture/right-harm-panel-discussion.
- The Smell of Money: https://www.smellofmoneydoc.com
Speak up: Contact your elected officials, local watershed group, and state environmental regulatory agency. Relay your concerns about air and water pollution and public health dangers from the storage and land application of massive amounts of untreated livestock manure. Demand answers and action. Be persistent.
Additional resources
- Socially Responsible Agricultural Project (SRAP): https://sraproject.org/
- Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF):
- Survey: Majority Of Voters Surveyed Support Greater Oversight Of Industrial Animal Farms: https://clf.jhsph.edu/about-us/news/news-2019/survey-majority-voters-surveyed-support-greater-oversight-industrial-animal
- American Public Health Association call for a national moratorium on CAFOs and CLF action steps: https://clf.jhsph.edu/publications/american-public-health-association-adopts-policy-statement-calling-national-moratorium
- ASPCA: The Problem with Factory Farming: https://www.aspca.org/protecting-farm-animals/problem-factory-farming
- Center for Food Safety:
- Opting Out of Industrial Meat: https://endindustrialmeat.org/about/
- Fact Sheet: Consumers’ Guide to Meatless Burgers: https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/fact-sheets/6062/consumers-guide-to-meatless-burgers