If you’ve read the news or a social media feed this year, chances are you’ve seen a headline about the environmental impact of animal agriculture. Sustainability, the environment and climate change are hot topics right now.

The Animal Agriculture Alliance gained insights at the 2019 Animal Rights National Conference that will help enable everyone in animal agriculture to protect their livelihood. Speakers from various animal rights organizations shared examples of their work and plans for upcoming strategies and tactics. Animal rights extremists are becoming increasingly aggressive in their efforts to end animal agriculture, so it is more important than ever to be proactive and prepared.

My summers growing up were filled with showing my horse, dogs and a borrowed cow at county fairs, the state state fair and through local horse clubs. It was an opportunity for me to show off a year of hard work, along with making friendships and memories to last a lifetime. The same goes for many producers and youth involved in agriculture. 

Farm security is not always top of mind for producers, but unfortunately, it’s necessary to protect the safety of your animals, people on your property and your livelihood. Animal rights activists will go to great lengths to portray animal agriculture negatively, ranging from getting hired to record misleading videos to trespassing to holding large-scale protests at farms.