FarmSTAND

Meat is a leading emissions source – but few outlets report on it, analysis finds Sentient Media reveals less than 4% of climate news stories mention animal agriculture as source of carbon emissions

Emissions from industrial animal agriculture must be a part of the climate conversation. New analysis shows most media outlets overlook Big Meat’s role in the climate crisis. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

How Big Ag Thrives on Trump's Immigration Threats - FarmSTAND It’s estimated that undocumented workers make up anywhere from 30-50 percent of the meatpacking workforce. Foreign-born workers make up an even larger proportion of animal agriculture industries like…

On the blog, FarmSTAND breaks down how Big Ag thrives on the fear created by ICE. These corporations count on a scared and exploitable workforce to maximize profits. farmstand.org/how-big-ag-t...

How ICE Terror Campaigns Are Used to Discipline Labor While Chicago sees a surge of ICE detentions, workers are facing retaliation as immigrants when they advocate for their rights.

· ICE’s campaign of terror is “chilling speech and chilling organizing…among immigrant workers” prospect.org/labor/2025-1... @sarahlazare.bsky.social @prospect.org

Offsets are a flawed concept, both for fighting climate change and factory farms. In our latest blog, Senior Staff Attorney Kelsey Eberly breaks down why meat offsets are a false solution and why challenging Big Ag & empowering communities is the real route to change.
Read it➡️ farmstand.org/offsets

The Cancerous Elephant in Iowa’s Room | Food with Mark Bittman #1-bestselling food writer Mark Bittman explores all aspects of what we put in our mouths - from cooking tips and recipes to food policy and interviews.

Iowa has the second highest rate of cancer in the US and is one of only two states where cancer rates are increasing. The culprit is chemicals from Big Ag, who care more about their profits than our health.

Learn about a new initiative to protect Iowans from factory farm chemicals➡️ buff.ly/jpuIGd3

Join the movement for a fair food system! Our email subscribers are the first to know about big developments in our work, and they get regular updates in our monthly newsletter. This is your chance to stay informed and engaged in the fight for a better food system.

Join us ➡️ farmstand.org/signup

Deep Dive: Checkoff - FarmSTAND We’re fighting in courtrooms and communities to dismantle the barriers to a fair food system led by independent food producers—including by taking on USDA’s checkoff programs.

We conducted our own research to prove that a few reforms could make the checkoff genuinely helpful to independent producers. Find out more in Part Two of our Checkoff Deep Dive, and stay tuned for Part Three.

Read Part Two now ➡️ farmstand.org/checkoff

The beef checkoff has paid millions for research to justify its cost to ranchers. But that research is flawed and doesn't account for small producers. That means that independent ranchers are paying a tax and the money is being spent on shoddy research to falsely claim that the system helps them.

USDA's DEI Purge: How Trump and Rollins are reshaping American agriculture - Investigate Midwest In Vicksburg, Mississippi, the south end of town near the municipal airport has no grocery stores, no food pantries. Mired in a federally recognized food desert, nearby families struggled to obtain…

USDA's racist, foolhardy "DEI Purge" threatens the livelihoods of all kinds of farmers building the fair food system we all deserve.

@skychadde.bsky.social @investigatemidwest.bsky.social

She managed to get a farmworker visa. Once in the U.S., she endured abuse. A Prism investigation reveals that women are routinely shut out of the H-2A program. Those who get in report doing non-agricultural labor and facing sexual violence and trafficking

An investigation by @tinavasquez.bsky.social follows the story of Isabella, who was granted a temporary farmworker visa to work in the U.S., promised $12.67/hr. She did not know yet that she would be chewed up & spit out in the gaping maw of the American agricultural machine like countless others.

A FarmSTAND branded graphic. Quote: Today, checkoff programs are little more than a funnel for billions of dollars to flow from hardworking farmers and ranchers into the pockets of agricultural trade and lobbying organizations. Quote is from FarmSTAND's Beef Checkoff Deep Dive Part One. Image of cows dressed as farmers in a funnel. Money falls out of the bottom of the funnel into the briefcase of a cow wearing a suit.

We exposed how the beef checkoff works and how its corruption harms small ranchers in the first part of our Deep Dive. Read it now to understand why the checkoff is such a problem, and stay tuned for Part Two, dropping next week.
Read it here ➡️ farmstand.org/checkoff

Western Wisconsin town passes ordinance regulating operations of large farms A western Wisconsin town has passed an ordinance that would regulate the operations of large livestock farms.

Local residents know that CAFOs make bad neighbors — and they're standing up for their right to pass ordinances to protect their communities. More good news for clean water coming out of Wisconsin!

The whiplash on this policy shows that if a program isn't lining Big Ag's pockets, it's on Trump's chopping block — regardless of what's good for farmers, children, and rural America.

USDA Releases Farm-to-School Funding After Earlier Cancellation Secretary Rollins announced the availability of $18 million for 2026, with changes that will lead to fewer, bigger projects.

An important step, but not enough to make up for the damage caused by USDA's reckless cuts. Rollins shouldn't be bragging about this about-face on the unfair, unpopular move to cut farm-to-school funding that helped schools buy and serve food grown by local farmers.

buff.ly/H0CKJhd

We had so much fun connecting with everyone at Farm Aid! Events like this are so important for growing our relationships and grounding us in our shared ideals. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our table on Saturday, and if we missed you, you can always connect with us online!

No, Americans Won’t Fill Big Ag Jobs. Corporations Prefer It That Way. - FarmSTAND In creatively cruel ways, President Trump is making good on his promise to carry out the largest mass deportation in history. Across the country, heavily armed federal agents in camouflage storm…

Big Ag wants a workforce that's too desperate to protest their mistreatment, and that's where immigrant labor comes in. Learn the real reasons Americans aren't taking ag jobs ➡️ buff.ly/gADXF4F

No, Americans Won’t Fill Big Ag Jobs. Corporations Prefer It That Way. - FarmSTAND In creatively cruel ways, President Trump is making good on his promise to carry out the largest mass deportation in history. Across the country, heavily armed federal agents in camouflage storm…

There's a narrative that U.S.-born-laborers don't take ag jobs because they're too spoiled for hard work. The truth is that Americans don't take those jobs because they're exploitative, underpaid, dangerous, and exempt from protections like overtime pay and workers comp.

Green FarmSTAND-branded graphic reading "There's somethign malicious about calling it a cultural exchange program...then making them work for chap in dangerous and physically hard circumstances", attributed to Amal Bouhabib, FarmSTAND Senior Staff Attorney; Quoted in The New York Times; featuring an image of an empty processing facility.

FarmSTAND is watching exploitation of visa holders closely in this moment, and we are ready to act to enforce the law. Learn more about how we are building a food system free from exploitation of labor: farmstand.org/workerjustice/

U.S. Rep. Nunn says JBS has hired replacements for workers being deported - Radio Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn says JBS has been able to hire replacements for workers at the company’s Ottumwa pork plant who had their visas revoked and are being deported. “Working with both JBS and Ottumwa...

Anti-immigrant terror has another important effect: it makes employers more likely to want to rely on J-1 exploitation in order to replace deported people in its workforce.

A GOP member of congress floated this exact strategy after a raid on an Iowa facility: www.radioiowa.com/2025/08/18/u...

This issue matters more every day. Anti-immigrant terror makes the potential danger in trying to leave the J-1 program early greater than ever, as @ninaelkadi.com reported in @sentientmedia.org: sentientmedia.org/cultural-exc...

"...three men from Guatemala scraped together money to work at a pork production plant... to receive training in breeding animals.

Instead, they were made to do some of the most dangerous jobs at the facility."

We're fighting for them, and to end all J-1 abuse: farmstand.org/case/stoppin...

They Were Promised a Taste of America. They Got Abuse and Exploitation.

BREAKING: A @nytimes.com investigation has revealed that many J-1 visa holders - expecting a cultural exchange experience - "have suffered abuse and mistreatment by American businesses in a poorly regulated program that is ripe for exploitation."

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/n...

Dairy worker families call for reforms and recognition after tragic accident kills six “If it happened one time, what’s to stop it from happening again in other dairies?”

Getting ag operations regulated properly is crucial for protecting farm workers and building an equitable system.

Read more ➡️ www.cpr.org/2025/08/29/c...

Six workers were killed by toxic gas while working at a dairy in Colorado last month. OSHA has regulations for workers around toxic gases. Unfortunately, they don't apply to ag operations.

So excited to see you there!

MAHA’s Report Proves It Can’t and Won’t Fix Our Food System - FarmSTAND Donald Trump and RFK Jr. claim their administration will “Make America Healthy Again,” but their most recent report shows that MAHA can’t deliver the changes to our food system we need for a…

We called this back in June after the first report came out. MAHA will never make genuine improvements to public health because the administration is too beholden to industry to actually challenge the corporations putting their profits above our health.

Read our take on MAHA here ➡️ buff.ly/UCQ2iXM

MAHA’s Report Proves It Can’t and Won’t Fix Our Food System - FarmSTAND Donald Trump and RFK Jr. claim their administration will “Make America Healthy Again,” but their most recent report shows that MAHA can’t deliver the changes to our food system we need for a…

The new MAHA commission report is out. Notably, it really backs off of big MAHA targets, including pesticides, seed oils, and sugars. Unlike the last report, this one was developed with industry input, with Big Ag thanking the administration for their "ongoing engagement."

More Data From Farms Could Help Scientists Better Track Avian Flu, but Privacy Concerns Stand in the Way Government agencies have refused to disclose farm locations, precise outbreak dates and other metadata associated with poultry and cattle that test positive for avian flu.

“It is incredibly difficult to get any kind of specific information about industrial farm operations, especially geospatial data because of an overlapping system of exemptions from the public records laws,” says Kelsey Eberly, an attorney at @farmstand.bsky.social.

We're tabling @farmaid.org this Saturday, 9-20 in Minneapolis! We're so excited to connect with farmers and other allies who believe in a better food system. Make sure you stop by our table, which we're sharing with our ally, @nsac-sustainableag.bsky.social!

Info on the festival ➡️ farmaid.org

FarmSTAND branded graphic. Text: Deep Dive: How FarmSTAND and Independent Ranchers Fight Beef Checkoff Corruption

Image: An image of a pasture farm. Heading text: The checkoff is a tax on farmers and ranchers. It's meant to benefit all producers, but often ends up lining the pockets of industry trade groups. Subheading: For years, we've been working with Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF) to end this corruption and stick up for independent ranchers.

Heading: The organizations who spend beef checkoff money often use it to boost big corporations instead of small ranchers. For example, Montana spent it on Wendy's ads. Image: A Wendy's advertisement. It features the beef checkoff logo and reads, "Brought to you by Wendy's and Montana Beef Producers with Beef Checkoff dollars."

Graphic of a quote from David Wright, Fourth-generation rancher and R-CALF member. Quote reads: "The checkoff does one thing, and one thing only: it advertises and promotes generic beef... We are forced to pay into [the program] to promote generic beef." Image of a meat processing worker.

The checkoff system funnels money away from small farmers and ranchers and towards corporate interests. Our latest Deep Dive is a comprehensive resource to learn how it works and how we can create a system that works for everyone.

Read Part 1 now ➡️ farmstand.org/checkoff

Illustration: Tania Lee