Many consumers wouldn’t see funding from an animal-rights group to create a documentary to stop dairy farming as a bad thing.
To them, it’s very simple: Groups that claim to protect animals can’t have any bad intentions because any sane person is for the ethical treatment of animals. Therefore if you oppose an animal-rights group, you must be opposing the ethical treatment of animals in the minds of non-farmers, right? Wrong. Today’s farmers believe that animal cruelty is unacceptable in any form and that it is not conducive to a well-run operation. Many animal-rights groups don’t understand that fact about today’s farmers.
Do incidents happen? Yes, unfortunately. Does there need to be consequences for people who mistreat animals? Yes. Are the videos of the so-called “dairy industry” representative of what happens on farms in North America? Absolutely not.
The reality is that animal-rights organizations use high-production and deceiving videos to tug on the heartstrings of consumers to get them to donate money to the cause — to the tune of tens of millions of dollars (without naming a specific organization). These organizations survive on the fear and good hearts of consumers in order to further generate donations.
This is precisely the issue we face creating “Before the Plate,” as we refuse to accept money from any organization that we feel will make consumers question our intentions for creating the film. Our view is this is one of the main reasons very few outreach programs on the farming front have effectively reached the hearts of consumers. Even with the best intentions, a film talking about the safety and quality of modern farming, paid for by a large ag company, is tossed by the wayside in the eyes of the consumer. It needs to come from you. The farmers. The people who pour your blood sweat and tears into the food you produce.
Please help us create a real farming documentary to help bring consumers back on board with farming and more importantly, farmers.
To connect with “Before the Plate’s” journey, follow them on Facebook and on Instagram and stay tuned to AGDAILY.com. Click here to donate to “Before the Plate’s” Kickstarter campaign.
