Another Corporate Farm Backflips: Marcho Farms to Phase Out Veal Crates
US - Last week, Smithfield, the world's largest pig farming operation, announced plans to phase out gestation crates, followed this week by Maple Leaf Farms, the largest producer of pigs in Canada. This week, Marcho Farms, one of the largest U.S. veal companies announced plans to phase out veal crates.
1 February 2007
1 minute read
In 2002, Farm Sanctuary investigated and exposed conditions at Marcho Farms, and pressured the company to make changes.
Until recently, Smithfield and Marcho Farms have both been strong proponents of keeping animals in narrow crates. As citizens, restaurants and other businesses become aware of agribusiness' cruelties, they are demanding reforms. This was apparent last November when voters in the state of Arizona overwhelming approved Proposition 204, a measure to ban veal and gestation crates.
Gene Baur, president of Farm Sanctuary stated, "These recent announcements demonstrate that we are making progress. Cruelty to animals violates basic humane principals, and industrial farming operators are now being forced to recognize this."
Catelli Brothers Inc., one of the nation's largest veal slaughterhouses, also stated this week that they want veal farmers to end the use of crates. Not long ago, Catelli actively fought legislative efforts to ban veal crates in New Jersey, where the company is headquartered.
"Industries that exploit and slaughter calves and pigs have not been transparent about the way animals are treated on their farms," added Baur. "In the case of Marcho Farms, releasing calves from 2-foot-wide crates is progress, but nothing is humane about taking a newborn calf away from his mother and shipping him off to be slaughtered only a few months after his birth."
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