I started a blog called 'Shadow Price' — a reference to costs markets fail to price, and the hidden nature of factory farming The first post is a short case for why we should, and can, improve farm animal welfare Sign up for regular posts (link in thread)

In medieval times, within the arms race of ever more demonic torture devices, some sadistic genius came up with the idea of the Little Ease. This was a prison cell built so small in every dimension that a grown man could not stand upright in it nor lie down at full length nor properly sit. The pain is relentless and without relief and inflicted by one's own body. Prisoners were known to go insane within a few days. A stay at the Little Ease was considered even more cruel than the rack, the thumbscrew, and the other ghoulish machinery of the Tower of London. A breeding pig will spend her whole life in a version of that box. These are social, roaming creatures (more intelligent than dogs) who will never leave this corset of steel. They have been selectively bred to be bigger than their frames can support. Yet we put them in cells so confined that they cannot comfortably sit, and their attempts to do so (for example, by sneaking their limbs into adjacent stalls) reliably lead to fractures and sprains. They cannot sweat, yet have nothing to roll around in to cool themselves off. Except their own manure, which (contrary to the common misconception) they are so averse to (thanks to their strong sense of smell) that new sows will often suffer from constipation to avoid soiling the space from which they eat and sleep. Here is how the writer Matthew Scully described what saw at one of Smithfield’s “gestation barn”: > “Sores, tumors, ulcers, pus pockets, lesions, cysts, bruises, torn ears, swollen legs everywhere. Roaring, groaning, tail biting, fighting, and other “Vices,” as they’re called in the industry. Frenzied chewing on bars and chains, stereotypical “vacuum” chewing on nothing at all, stereotypical rooting and nest building with imaginary straw. And “social defeat,” lots of it, in every third or fourth stall some completely broken being you know is alive only because she blinks and stares up at you … creatures beyond the power of pity to help or indifference to make more miserable, dead to the world except as heaps of flesh into which the [insemination] rod may be stuck once more and more flesh reproduced.” — The Save Our Bacon Act is trying to unroll the few state protections we have against this barbaric cruelty - for example California’s Prop 12 - which banned the sale of pork from pigs kept in gestation crates. It’s incredibly important we don’t end up with this sort of federal preemption. SOB will not only kill the most important animal welfare related laws in the US of the past decade, but more importantly, it will also restrict ALL future legislative progress (aka how the animal welfare movement has gotten its biggest wins). The Senate is currently deciding whether to add the SOB Act to the Farm Bill. With relatively little money now, we can discourage the most pivotal senators in the Ag committee from backing this amendment. Defeating this bill is even more important given the amount of philanthropic funding I expect to come online in the next year or two. It will plausibly be over 10x more expensive to repeal SOB than to prevent it from passing in the first place. All that money that could be spent transforming our society's relationship to mass animal suffering will instead have to be spent just getting us back to where we are right now. That's why money spent now fighting this bill (and I mean right NOW) is so effective. If you’re in a position to donate six figures, please DM me.

Denmark's new government just announced major pig welfare reforms. They're banning the practices of restraining sows in farrowing crates, breeding them beyond their natural limits, and cutting off piglets' tails. They're also requiring pigs get more space and rooting material. And they're stepping up farm inspections and penalties for cruelty. All while the US Congress is trying to wipe out the few state laws that protect pigs via the Save Our Bacon Act buried in the farm bill. Denmark just showed what's possible for pigs when voters demand it — and politicians listen.

I've been working on farm animal protection for a while now, and I haven't seen anything quite like what's happening around the Save Our Bacon Act. People who have never organized before, including some genuinely prominent voices, are hosting events, calling senators, and fundraising from friends. And those of us who have been here a while, across many ideological divides and every strategic disagreement, are showing up together. We've always punched above our weight (out of necessity!), but this feels substantively very different. The political and social cost of supporting this barbarism is finally rising.

Three powerful pieces on the Save Our Bacon Act dropped this weekend: from @NickKristof, @kathleenparker, and @Noahpinion. This is much needed. The mainstream media has been silent on what may be the greatest legislative threat to animal welfare in a generation. There's been a grassroots revolt against the Act on X -- led by conservatives. But only one network has covered it: Fox, thanks to @TomiLahren. This is exactly what the pork industry wants. It knows the Act is deeply unpopular. Its paid-for politicians can only pass it if they're never forced to defend it publicly. They were hoping you wouldn't notice. They're now hoping you'll stay quiet. Prove them wrong.

Voters at the state level are voting to end factory-farming practices that amount to mass animal torture. But Republicans in Congress are doing their utmost to protect businesses' right to torture animals. noahpinion.blog/p/the-way-we…

Truly disturbing that the American Veterinary Medical Association (@AVMAvets) is lobbying Congress to keep pigs in tiny crates. Welfare scientist Donald Broom said it's "much worse than severely beating an animal." Seems like a clear violation of the veterinarian's oath.

Great news: the Senate farm bill base text won't include the Save Our Bacon Act, which would wipe out state bans on pork from crated pigs. Senate Ag Chair John Boozman said it's too controversial to include. That's thanks to everyone who called and posted about this. But the fight's not over. Iowa's Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst will likely now try to add the SOB Act to the bill as a committee amendment. Keep the calls to your senators going: (202) 224-3121. Tell them: no farm bill with the Save Our Bacon Act in it. We can win this. Photo credit: WeAnimals.