Sows and their piglets have access to the outdoors at Arnold’s Farm in Elizabeth, near Galena. Courtesy of Niman Ranch
When you pick up fresh pork chops behind glass at Mariano’s, you can be sure the product comes from a farm that doesn’t use gestation crates—metal enclosures so small that the pigs kept inside can’t turn around.
The no-checkout policy, a response to both animal welfare and climate change, is new for the grocery chain and has begun to take shape across the country as supermarkets and states adopt standards and laws banning checkout. use of controversial products. enclosures for farm animals.
Cages have long been criticized by animal rights advocates, but environmentalists say banning them is also a step in the right direction when it comes to addressing pollution caused by industrial livestock operations.
“Why are gestation crates important for environmental or public health impacts? Because the fundamental change that occurred in our agricultural system when we started to see these really industrialized facilities emerge in the ’70s, and then ramped up in the ’90s, is the basic business proposition of putting so many animals in so little space. as possible,” said Tyler Lobdell, an attorney for the nonprofit Food & Water Watch. “The main way this industry has achieved this to such an extreme degree is with extreme confinement; gestation crates are a great example of that.”
Since the 1950s, meat and dairy production in the United States has more than doubled, while the number of operations has decreased by 80%, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
Confined animal feeding operations, better known as factory farms, are known sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Waste from industry has also been a long-standing concern when it comes to water pollution.
Lobdell added that while restricting the use of gestation crates won’t solve everything, it is indicative of pushing back “the fundamental problem” of maximizing production and minimizing expenses.
“That expense comes in the form of having to control their pollution, which they don’t do well,” he said.
Sows in a row of gestation crates, metal enclosures that have been subject to legislative and supermarket policy restrictions due to environmental and animal welfare concerns. Photo courtesy of the Humane Society of the United States.
Gestation crates are typically used to keep sows during the 16-week period that they are pregnant or gestating. The sows are moved to a slightly larger enclosure while they nurse their piglets before finally returning to the gestation crate.
“Most people are totally disconnected from the history of the animals that feed us. They walk into a grocery store and see a package of pork wrapped in plastic,” said Jess Chipkin, founder of the nonprofit Crate Free USA. “That’s why one of our goals is to raise awareness about how these animals eat, how they live their lives, and there are other options.”
Pork products in plastic containers line the cooler of a grocery store in New Orleans last April. KeynoteUSA
The most common alternative to gestation crates is group housing, where sows can move freely and socialize with their pen mates.
Chipkin, who lives in Huntley, formed the organization in 2015 as Crate Free Illinois before expanding nationwide. The group is leading campaigns to ask grocers, including Aldi and Trader Joe’s, to phase out gestation boxes from their supply chains.
Trader Joe’s has offered cage-free pork since 2018, although it also sells cage-free pork in some stores.
And although Aldi’s Animal Welfare Purchasing Policy states: “We expect our suppliers to seek to eliminate pregnant sow crates in favor of group housing,” the document did not provide a timeline and has not been updated since 2019.
Aldi did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, at Jewel Osco, the company said it encourages its suppliers to limit the use of gestation crates for breeding sows in favor of group housing systems.
“Looking ahead, we are committed to updating our goal of increasing our sourcing of fresh group-housed pork, including establishing measurable sourcing targets, which we plan to publish in early 2025 and report annually thereafter,” a company spokesperson said in an email. .
The issue is especially relevant in Illinois, which is the fourth largest pork producer in the country. In 2022, 10.4 million pigs will be raised for pork production in the state.
While Illinois has no restrictions on the use of gestation crates, states such as California and Massachusetts have recently banned stores from selling pork from farms that use them.
A step beyond banning the state’s pork producers from using it (the boxes have been banned in 10 states, including Florida since 2002, Arizona since 2006 and California since 2008), the laws have had unprecedented implications on the trade. pork interstate, even here in Illinois.
The California law in particular was bitterly fought by the domestic pork industry. The battle ended in the Supreme Court, which upheld the law.
Sows rest while others move freely around a gestation pen at a farm run by Jared Schilling in Walsh, Illinois. Schilling has brought his farm into compliance with a California law that promises to remove breeding pigs from narrow cages that restrict their movement. KeynoteUSA
Jared Schilling of Walsh, Illinois, once used these arrow-shaped gestation cages, photographed in 2023, but removed them after bringing his farm into compliance with a California law that promises to remove breeding pigs from narrow cages that restrict its movement. Associated press photo
Although new to the United States, the restrictions are all too familiar to producers in the European Union and Canada. Gestation crates were banned in the EU in 1999. Canada is looking to ban new cages by 2029.
Instituted in 2014, Canada’s ban was delayed in part to give farmers time to comply. This is because transitioning to group housing requires an entirely new system, and the change is often costly.
“I haven’t met any farmers who are trying to do a bad job. It’s a balance. It’s about having the capital cost to be able to deal with the conversions,” said Yolande Seddon, a professor of swine behavior and welfare at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. “There are different system designs and the early adopters are the ones that go through the greatest rate of trial and error. “There’s a lot of communication in the community about what works and what doesn’t to try to support success.”
In addition to allowing easy handling of a large number of pigs in a small area, industrial pig farmers often cite physical aggression between animals as a reason for using gestation crates.
Seddon said addressing aggression during the transition to group housing can be different for each farmer depending on factors such as genetics and housing design.
At Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm in Ottawa, farmer Jody Osmund uses pig hutches that look like Quonset huts instead of cages. Osmund’s pigs generally roam freely outside, eating grass, scavenging in the dirt and “acting like pigs,” he said.
“It is important to us that our pigs are friendly and docile,” said Osmund, who moved to his farm from Des Plaines in 2002. “Temperament is a highly heritable trait and can be selected for. For the last 40 or 50 years, pig farmers have not had to select for good temperament because the animals are in a steel cage their entire lives.”
Farmer Tom Arnold, who has raised pigs on his family farm for 135 years near Galena, added that aggression is often a stressor and sometimes “it’s just a matter of giving the animal space.”
At Arnold’s farm, sows choose their own pen when they are ready to have their piglets, and come and go freely while nursing.
Tom Arnold has fed pigs on his family farm for 135 years in Elizabeth, near Galena. Niman Ranch
Arnold is part of Niman Ranch, the food company that began supplying fresh pork to Mariano’s in 2023. When Arnold joined the network, he discovered he could get a price for his product that reflected the care he put into his farm. , which was not possible in the general market.
It’s a similar story for Osmund, who sells directly to consumers through a subscription service called Community Supported Agriculture.
“Most commodity producers will accept whatever price is presented to them. They have nothing to say,” Osmund said. “I raise superior pigs in a way that ensures they are healthier, the meat they produce is healthier and much tastier. I can find consumers who are willing to pay more for it and I can make a living. Being sustainable is not only taking care of the land, animals and the environment, it is also taking care of the farmer.”
• Jenny Whidden is a climate change and environmental writer who works with the Daily Herald through a partnership with Report For America, supported by The Nature Conservancy. To help support her work with a tax-deductible donation, visit dailyherald.com/rfa.
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