What Are Iowa's Factory Farms Trying to Hide?

Iowa is pushing to keep activists from exposing the
conditions in the state's factory farms.
(photo: Rosino/flickr)

By Will Potter, Green Is the New Red

03 March 12

The video below compiled by Mercy For Animals includes video shot at McDonald's former egg supplier Sparboe Egg Farms. Once made public, the video led to McDonald's dropping Sparboe's contract. A note of warning, the video is graphic and discretion is advised. -- JPS/RSN

owa is set to become the first state to pass one of the recent "Ag Gag" laws introduced across the country to target undercover investigators who expose animal welfare violations on factory farms.

House File 589 creates a new crime of "agricultural production facility fraud," and it has already passed the Iowa House and Senate with bipartisan support. It is on the desk of Gov. Terry Branstad for signature or veto.

The bill, and similar efforts such as Utah's Ag Gag bill, carve out special protections in the law to shield factory farms from public scrutiny.

As Randall Wilson of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union of Iowa said: "We all know it's a thinly veiled attempt to eliminate investigative reporting and whistle-blowing regarding abuses in our food production chain."

It should come as no surprise who is behind these efforts. For example, Iowa State Rep Annette Sweeney, a proponent of the bill, is the former Executive Director of the Iowa Angus Association. And Simpson Farms, Florida’s second biggest egg producer, helped draft the language of that bill target animal welfare activists with up to 30 years in prison. It failed.   READ MORE