The Certified Humane Raised and Handled label creates a win-win-win
situation for retailers and restaurants, producers, and consumers.
For farmers, the win means they can achieve differentiation,
increase market share and increase profitability for choosing
more sustainable practices.
While food is a mature business, natural and organic products
are experiencing double digit growth rates. Natural plus organic
meat, fish and poultry represented a $390MM market in 1999.
The organic meat fish and poultry market alone was forecast
to grow from $30MM to $40MM from 1999 to 2000 (source: Nutrition
Business Journal). Although these markets are small in the
scope of conventional agriculture, an expanding base augurs
further share increases for alternative products. Despite
products costing an average of 50% more than conventional,
the organic market has moved into the mainstream, with 48%
of consumers using organic products at least occasionally
(source: The Hartman Group), “not just highly educated,
higher-income people... but more middle-class and lower-middle-class
consumers are aspiring to an organic lifestyle.” (source:
Natural Foods Merchandiser).
Consumers are increasingly interested in
farm animal care not only due to a growing awareness of welfare
issues, but also because they view animal care as indicative
of food safety, health and taste benefits. Multiple surveys
demonstrate consumers’ willingness to pay for food perceived
to be of higher quality. Every time headlines address foot
and mouth disease, “mad cow” disease, beef recalls
for e. coli, pfisteria or manure lagoons, consumers focus
on how animals are raised and seek products produced under
more strict conditions.
Recent research with over 1,000 U.S. adults
concluded that “the majority of consumers... want to
know that the animals they eat have been treated well and
raised in a safe and healthy environment.” The same
survey noted from 58% to 76% of respondents concerned about
salmonella, food poisoning, e. coli, mad cow disease, antibiotics
or hormones in meat and genetically modified food.
A survey of 1400 people in Colorado, Utah
and New Mexico identified consumer desires (4 point scale,
4 = most important) for farm animal production:
| No growth hormones |
3.72 |
| No antibiotics |
3.38 |
| Protect streams |
3.37 |
| Protect endangered species |
3.20 |
| No small or crowded pens |
3.03 |
This survey also found that many consumers, especially high-income
frequent pork consumers and those concerned about growth hormones
and antibiotic use, were willing to pay a premium for alternative
production practices, especially if visibly and descriptively
labeled. Two other surveys noted 68% and 54% of respondents
interested in animal welfare, with great levels of concern
for environmental protection, family farms and worker protection.
Preliminary qualitative research in the Washington, D.C. area
for HFAC also reflects interest in Certified Humane products.
The following information compiled by the
Global Resources Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
suggests the societal costs of intensive confinement farming
and the value of increasing the alternative agriculture:
| • |
Overuse of antibiotics
in animals is causing more strains of drug-resistant bacteria.
The Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences
has estimated the annual cost of treating antibiotic-resistant
infections in the U.S. at $30 billion. |
| • |
In general, hog factories
displace three times as many jobs as they create. Smaller
farms generate a higher number of permanent jobs and account
for a greater increase in local sales per capita income
and a greater reduction in unemployment rate. |
| • |
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency blames current farming practices for
70% of the pollution in the nation's rivers and streams.
The agency reports that runoff of chemicals, silt, and
animal waste from US farmland has polluted more than 173,000
miles of waterways. |
| • |
Small farmers devote 17%
of their area to woodlands, compared to only 5% on large
farms. Small farms maintain nearly twice as much of their
land in "soil improving uses.” |
| • |
Industry spokespeople estimate
that as many as 20% of breeding sows die prematurely from
exhaustion and stress due to impacts of restrictive confinement
and accelerated breeding schedules at concentrated animal
feeding operations (CAFOs). |
For producers, the rise in factory farming has caused the
decline in smaller farming operations.
| • |
Since 1986, the number
of hog operations has declined by 72%, a loss of over
247,500 operations. Of the remaining operations, 2% control
nearly half of all hog inventory. Similar changes have
occurred in poultry and beef farming. |
| • |
In 1998, farmers earned
an average of only $7,000 per year from their farming
operations. 88% of the average farmer’s income comes
from off-the-farm sources. |
| • |
In 1920, the United States
had over 925,000 African American-operated farms. Today
there are less than 18,500 (source: compiled by GRACE). |
back to top
|
