News

June 14, 2020 In News

FERN: Judge declares much of N.C. ag-gag law unconstitutional

A federal judge handed a victory late Friday to animal-welfare advocates when he declared that much of North Carolina’s ag-gag law violated the First Amendment’s free-speech provisions. The ruling could also help employees trying to expose slaughterhouses that put their workforces at risk for Covid-19…

April 24, 2020 In News

Washington Post OpEd: I work at Smithfield Foods. I’m suing them over putting our lives at risk for your dinner.

“I believe our plant hasn’t done enough to protect us, and I fear that we could suffer the same fate as a shuttered plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., where two Smithfield employees have died of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, already.”

April 24, 2020 In News

Bloomberg Law: Smithfield Workers Sue Over Covid-19 Exposure in Meat Plant

Smithfield Foods Inc. is being sued for allegedly failing to protect workers from coronavirus at its meat-processing plant in Milan, Mo., after at least eight workers have had to stay home after showing Covid-19 symptoms.

April 24, 2020 In News

New York Times: Missouri Pork Plant Workers Say They Can’t Cover Mouths to Cough

A lawsuit filed against a Smithfield Foods plant claims it has created a public nuisance by failing to protect workers from coronavirus infection.

April 24, 2020 In News

Press Release: Smithfield Workers Ask Court to Force Company to Protect Them From COVID-19

With food chain workers being deemed “essential,” but allowed to fall ill, workers at Smithfield’s pork processing plant in Milan, Missouri are taking legal action to secure basic protective equipment and protocol changes that will stop the spread of COVID-19 in the plant and the surrounding community.

February 4, 2020 In News

Bovine Veterinarian: Presidential Candidate Wants To Ban Feedlots

“Our independent family farmers and ranchers are continuing to be squeezed by large, multinational corporations that, because of their buying power and size, run roughshod over the marketplace. We need to fix the broken system – that means protecting family farmers and ranchers and holding…

February 1, 2020 In News

The Wisconsin State Farmer: Summary judgment issued against R-CALF in checkoff case

“The Magistrate held that for decades USDA had been violating producers’ rights and the Constitution by turning over money to unaccountable state beef councils.”

January 31, 2020 In News

Drovers: Beef Checkoff Prevails In Crucial Court Ruling

A Montana magistrate judge granted summary judgement Wednesday (Jan. 29, 2020) to the government and the 15 qualified state beef councils targeted in the R-CALF vs. Sonny Perdue lawsuit. That decision will now be forwarded to the federal district court for a final ruling, a process…

January 14, 2020 In News

Groups submit brief to Iowa Supreme Court in Clean Water Lawsuit as State seeks to “close off” judiciary to citizen groups on behalf of “Big Ag”

Yesterday, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) and Food & Water Watch (FWW) filed a brief before the Iowa Supreme Court, defending a Polk County District Court ruling that the organizations’ lawsuit against the State of Iowa to restore the Raccoon River could proceed to trial….

January 10, 2020 In News

Agri-Pulse Daybreak: NEPA proposal could shield USDA loans

Listen to the story here. The administration’s proposal to set deadlines for National Environmental Policy Act analyses and reduce the number of federal actions that would be subject to review also singles out a USDA program for attention. The proposal would exclude from NEPA review projects enabled…