Opinion: Berkeley can lead the way to a factory farm-free future

Berkeley voters have approved Measure DD, a citizen-initiated ballot measure to ban factory farms, formally called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The first-of-its-kind measure won with 62% of the votes. Once the vote is certified this week, Berkeley will officially be the first city in the nation to ban factory farms, hopefully inspiring other cities to consider this issue and become factory farm-free.

Overwhelming scientific evidence and investigative reporting show factory farms harm animals, the environment, workers and public health. The ASPCA, Sierra Club, and American Public Health Association have all come out publicly against factory farms for reasons including cruelty to animals, water pollution and the release of huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. 

This isn’t the first time Berkeley has been on the leading edge of creating change for animals. In 2017, it was the second city in the country to ban fur sales, following West Hollywood. Berkeley’s fur ban set off a chain reaction, spurring San Francisco and then the entire state of California to ban the sale of fur by 2019. Our actions helped save the lives of countless foxes, mink and rabbits. 

Since then, many cities beyond California — including Wellesley, Massachusetts; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Hallandale Beach, Florida — have passed fur bans. I hope to see this same pattern follow Measure DD.

For now, the fight against factory farming faces a steep uphill battle. A factory farm ban on the ballot in Sonoma County, just an hour from Berkeley, lost at the ballot box. Measure J would have required 21 factory farms, some owned by poultry giant Perdue Farms, to close or downsize.

This loss is an unfortunate outcome for the residents of Sonoma County, whose waterways are polluted by the runoff from factory farm waste lagoons and whose air smells strongly of feces. It’s even more unfortunate for the animals who will continue to suffer in these operations, many of which have been repeatedly exposed for animal cruelty and neglect.

In addition, avian flu was rampant in many Sonoma County factory farms last year. As a result of the outbreaks, more than a million birds were killed. The cramped living conditions of factory farms facilitate the spread of disease, and avian flu has now spread to dairy cows and humans in California.

The opposition to Measure J raised over $2 million, drawing in large donations from Perdue and other factory farming companies and trade groups, including Western United Dairies in Turlock and the National Pork Producers Association in Iowa. The opposition outspent the Yes on J campaign 8-to-1. 

Despite the rejection of Measure J, residents in Sonoma County and beyond are now paying more attention to CAFOs in their area. The awareness and conversations sparked by Measure DD and Measure J may continue a broad rippling effect, inspiring further action from people who care about keeping their water clean, stopping the advance of climate change and protecting animals.

In 2023, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote in The Truth About Your Bacon, “What I am confident of is that right now we’re on the wrong side of history and that future generations will look back at videos like these and be baffled that nice people like us could blindly tolerate such systematized cruelty toward intelligent if cantankerous fellow mammals not so different from us.”

When more people pay attention and take action to stop the devastating impact of CAFOs on animals, the environment and humans, we can correct our misguided path and put ourselves on the right side of history.

Almira Tanner is a Berkeley resident and the lead organizer of Direct Action Everywhere, a grassroots network of animal rights activists.