Here's What Happened at the Measure J Debate
Last week, Yes on J representatives faced opponents in a livestreamed debate hosted by the local NPR station, KRCB.
Kristina Garfinkel, a lead organizer with the Coalition to End Factory Farming, and Lewis Bernier, a factory farm investigator, shared the truth about the 21 Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in Sonoma County and how they are impairing local waterways with waste runoff, harming animals, outcompeting smaller farms, and spreading dangerous pathogens like salmonella.
The opposition, which included factory farm owner Mike Weber and attorney Brent Newell, denied these facts and insisted that the large CAFOs in Sonoma County are different from large CAFOs in other parts of the country despite the fact that they meet the same EPA definition, for example by confining over 125,000 chickens raised for meat or 700 mature dairy cows.
Weber’s company, Sunrise Farms, operates 7 of the 21 CAFOs in Sonoma County including one with over half a million chickens who never step foot outside. During the debate, Weber said “I do operate an operation that has over 500,000 chickens…size doesn’t matter.” He told the public that the size of commercial animal farms has nothing to do with animal welfare.
But he was momentarily speechless when the Yes on J side pointed out that his company also told us hens are happier in cages back when Sunrise Farms fought against California’s Proposition 2, which banned the most intensive confinement of egg-laying hens, veal calves, and pregnant mother pigs. You can watch this clip from the debate here.
You can watch the full Measure J debate on KRCB’s YouTube here.
Both Weber and Newell said Measure J was a solution to a non-existent problem, denying the evidence presented to them about the many harms CAFOs cause, including here in Sonoma County.
Measure J is the top issue on Sonoma County’s ballot. It’s sparking thousands of important conversations across the county (and beyond) and exposing factory farms that have long tried to hide their real conditions behind “humane” marketing. Help us share the truth with voters by joining one of our upcoming outreach events.