A coalition of ranching and agricultural groups is intensifying efforts to educate residents about Arizona’s $9 billion agriculture industry and to urge defeat of a proposed initiative they say is a purposeful attempt to undermine meat production in the state.
The Campaign for Arizona Farmers and Ranchers has launched Operation Main Street — a series of workshops created to fight the Arizona for Humane Farms initiative, which would ban the tethering of calves raised for veal and require that pregnant pigs be kept in enclosures large enough for them to turn around and lie down.
The group, which includes the United Dairymen of Arizona, the Arizona Farm Bureau, the Arizona Pork Council and the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association, is encouraging industry workers to write to newspapers, engage media personnel and people otherwise not familiar with the details of the food production industry to defeat the proposal.
“We look at ourselves in agriculture and know that we have to do more,” Jim Klinker, the group’s chairman, said about the effort to educate the public. “Less than one-half of one percent of Arizona is involved in agriculture production.”
The measure seeks to advance a radical vegetarian agenda by preying on people’s natural affinity for animals and the restrictive means to confine the pigs is necessary to protect the naturally aggressive animals from each other and to prevent the sows from accidentally crushing their young, he said.
“Most people have a soft spot for animals and so do farmers and ranchers,” he said, adding that livestock and hogs are treated with great care on modern farms.
Moreover, if passed, the initiative could have disastrous consequences for the state’s food industry, which is already under attack by global market forces and rising fuel, equipment and production costs, he said.
“This is rural economic stability,” he said. “There are a lot of facets to it.”
Proponents: Initiative would protect family farms
The message of the Campaign for Arizona Farmers and Ranchers is hogwash, said Cheryl Naumann, chairwoman of the Arizonans for Humane Farms.
The point that the proposal is a deliberate attempt to sabotage Arizona’s meat industry for the advancement of a radical animal rights agenda is also misleading, she said.
“There is nothing in the initiative that includes a prohibition of the slaughter of animals for food,” said Ms. Naumann, who is also the CEO of the Arizona Humane Society. “That concept is an attempt by the opposition to make voters think the initiative is something it is not.”
Rather, the initiative would protect smaller family-owned farms from being overtaken by large, corporate factory farms. Of 33 hog farms in the state listed by the United States Department of Agriculture, only one will be affected by the measure.
Two recent events have encouraged proponents of the initiative, said Ms. Naumann. A recent study by the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University found strong support for the measure among 527 randomly selected Arizona residents and the defeat of Senate legislation that among other things would have negated the citizen effort to ban the restrictive gestation crate.
“The NAU poll represented the true vote of confidence in the campaign and the will of the Arizona voters,” she said. The defeat of SCR 1035 is also “cause for significant concern” among opponents of the Arizona for Humane Farms initiative.
Race for the ballot
The drive to collect the 122,612 needed signatures by July 6 to place the measure on the ballot is also going very well, said Ms. Naumann, who estimates that 85,000 signatures have been collected.
“Every week we’re getting more and more signature gatherers from outlining communities,” she said. “We’re extremely excited about that.”
To date, the Campaign for Arizona Farmers and Ranchers has raised approximately $135,000, according to Secretary of State’s Office. Most of which, $122,000, has been collected in 2006, including a $100,000 contribution from the Arizona Pork Council.
It is not clear if all contributions to the groups have been reported. Under state law, campaign committees for initiatives are required to immediately report donations of $10,000 or greater.
Complete campaign finance reports, which cover all contributions and expenses regardless of size, are required to be filed on four different dates leading up to elections held in November.
The next campaign finance report deadline is June 30.
The group’s fundraising efforts in 2006 as reported have outpaced those of Arizonans for Humane Farms, but the $135,000 raised by the agricultural community still remains less than half of the $350,000 raised and reported by proponents of the controversial initiative.
Both Ms. Naumann and Mr. Klinker said their committees have collected small contributions from individuals to support their opposing causes but could not say with accuracy how much has been gathered.
Mr. Klinker said that about 200 farmers and ranchers have “stepped up” to offer $25, $50, $100 and $500 to the campaign.
“We’re pleased the people in the agricultural industry have come together on this,” he said. “They’re recognizing that this is a national issue and the battleground is in Arizona.”