First-ever U.S. county ballot measure to ban Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) could have national implications
Press Release, The Coalition to End Factory Farming
March 27, SANTA ROSA, CA – On Wednesday, the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters confirmed that a citizen-initiated petition to ban Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), commonly referred to as factory farms, qualified for the ballot. Volunteers with the Coalition to End Factory Farming (CEFF) submitted over 37,000 signatures for the ballot initiative earlier this month. Measure J, as the initiative is now known, will be on the ballot on November 5, 2024.
Extensive scientific studies have shown that CAFOs have detrimental impacts on animals, the environment, workers, and public health in the community. The ballot proposal adopts the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) definition of a CAFO as an animal feeding operation (AFO) that exceeds specified animal population limits or causes substantial pollution. Advocates estimate there are approximately two dozen CAFOs in Sonoma County, out of more than 1000 animal farms listed in the Census of Agriculture released this year. The initiative provides a three-year transition period for existing CAFOs to close or adapt so that they no longer fall under the CAFO classification. It also includes an offer for retraining and a job support program for those previously or currently employed by CAFOs.
CEFF is a coalition of more than 30 organizations including environmental advocacy and animal protection groups, as well as small animal farms and other local businesses. People from all different backgrounds are coming together to address the harms caused by factory farming.
Roy Smith, operator of a diverse animal farm, said in support of the elimination of poultry CAFOs, “Since the 1950’s, industrial poultry CAFOs have been able to outcompete local family farms by using cheap transport and supply chains, minimal amounts of poorly paid labor, and by externalizing environmental costs. Cheap food has come at the cost of our local economy and rural landscape. The first step in rebuilding our food system, and making family farms viable again, is to level the playing field. There is no playing field for small farmers as long as CAFOs occupy it, and they won’t leave without an eviction notice.”
“The impact of CAFOs on the natural world nationwide is profound as we have seen here in Sonoma County,” said Patty Clary, Executive Director of Californians for Alternatives to Toxics which recently settled a Clean Water Act case with a Sonoma County CAFO discharging pollutants from its operation to a watershed where once abundant populations of iconic Coho salmon were exterminated. “CAFOs and their toxic waste of manure contaminated with E. coli, nitrates and other deadly pollutants degrade the environment and need to go the way of other intensely polluting industries: out of here.”
“Our sanctuary takes in abused and abandoned farm animals. We know firsthand the level of attention and medical care that animals like chickens, ducks, and turkeys need, and we know that factory farms don’t give them that level of care. It’s time to end the gruesome way animals are treated in industrial operations,” said Tania Soderman, founder and Executive Director of Sonoma Chicks Rescue and Sanctuary.
Advocates say there is a growing appetite for legislation that addresses the harms of factory farming. They point to the fact that California voters, including in Sonoma County, overwhelmingly supported Propositions 2 (2008) and 12 (2018) to improve housing conditions for certain animals, as well as calls from the American Public Health Association, the ASPCA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to pass legislation directed at CAFOs.
Preceding this ballot initiative campaign were years of factory farm investigations in Sonoma County that have exposed criminal animal cruelty. For example, Reichardt Duck Farm in Petaluma was investigated by Mercy for Animals in 2014 and Direct Action Everywhere in 2019 and 2023, and all three investigations found diseased ducks stuck on their backs, unable to right themselves and unable to access food or water.
For more information visit https://www.endfactoryfarming.vote/