Representatives of ballot Measure J gathered Aug. 22 at Santa Rosa Junior College’s Bertolini quad to advocate for the end of factory farming in Sonoma County by defining its benefits for students.
According to the advocates webpage, ballot Measure J would phase out and prohibit Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs. This would result in a set limit on the number of animals allowed to be held for the purpose of factory farming.
A proponent of the ballot measure, Samantha Eachus, described the importance of Measure J and what it pertains to. “Measure J is a ballot measure that we’re putting together to phase out the largest concentrated animal feeding operations here in Sonoma County,” Eachus said.
According to Eachus, Sonoma County contains 20 CAFOs.
“It has very, very strict guidelines that you have to meet in order to be [considered] a concentrated animal feeding operation,” she said. She went on to explain that in order to be considered a CAFO, a farm has to contain at least 3 million animals. Whereas the existing local laws only allow family farms in Sonoma County to contain a maximum of 750,000 animals. If Measure J is passed, CAFOs would be outlawed in Sonoma County and would be required to “phase out,” according to Eachus.
She explained that factory farming raises concerns about animal abuse, the spread of disease and pollution. Additionally she cited the avian influenza outbreak that made headway in Sonoma County earlier this year as an effect of CAFOs. “Constantly spreading diseases that are exclusively from concentrated animal feeding operations, we are losing an incredible amount of migratory birds and songbirds all over the nation, not just here in Sonoma County,” she said.
Opponents of Measure J argue that there would be unintended consequences such as multi-generational farming families being put out of business, a significant increase in the price of foods and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions due to the import of said products from different counties or states.
Eachus addressed the opposition’s concerns about the price of poultry and meat if the measure were to pass. “We have already seen an exponential increase in food prices,” she said. “Even if this ballot measure doesn’t pass, your food prices are going to increase regardless.”
Eachus listed the pollution of watersheds as another negative effect of factory farming. “Specifically,” she said, “one of the duck farms that’s here in Sonoma County pollutes the Blucher Creek watershed which is one of the very last places in Sonoma County, and California in general, where you can find the native California freshwater shrimp.”
Eachus described the importance of understanding the verbiage of the measure. She said that though the measure will end factory farming operations, they will be phased out and replaced with other agricultural practices. She referenced that farms in Humboldt County have already begun to phase out dairy farms, turning the land into quinoa farms.
When asked if cutting down on factory farming would affect California’s economy and the amount of money generated from the state’s large agricultural industry, Eachus said, “I fully believe in the ability to replace these concentrated animal feeding operations with other types of agriculture.” She added, “If one CAFO goes out of business, that’s hundreds of thousands of chickens that are no longer being bred into existence, but that’s also 1,020 more farmers that can come in and take their place with smaller flocks.”
In the grand scheme of things, Eachus believes the solution to factory farming and the mistreatment of animals, pollution of local watersheds and the spread of disease is encouraging local mom-and-pop farms. “We are going to need to incentivize small farmers, which again, means not so many subsidies to large farmers, and more subsidies [for small farmers],” she said.
The official website advocating for the denial of Measure J cites an independent study performed to discover the unintended economical impacts of the Measure. The study found that if Measure J were to pass it would significantly cut down on the number of jobs and inflict half a billion dollars worth of economic damage, adding a heavy economic burden to taxpayers.
Additional reporting by Lucas Cadigan-Carranza
