Animal Rights/Vegan Activists' Strategies Articles

A Previously Unsolvable Problem: From Chickens and Cows to Fungi

From RAP Rancher Advocacy Program
October 2022

The Barretts sought out the help of the Rancher Advocacy Program to envision a totally new kind of livelihood–one that would allow the Barretts to replace chicken farming with a compassionate, nutritious, environmentally friendly alternative. Mushrooms to the rescue! RAP and the Barretts worked together with a team of experts to create a business model that would turn the 500 foot-long chicken barns on their property into a mushroom farm operation.

The chicken-raising industry saddles family farms with insurmountable debt and offers at best, subsistence living, to even the most productive chicken farmers through predatory contracts.

The Barrett Farm had contracts with the largest chicken producers in the US and were top producers throughout their time raising chickens–more than 100,000 birds every six weeks.

Despite being top producers, they earned just enough to provide for the simplest family needs while their debt to the banks continued to increase.

When they stopped raising chickens, the banks came after them and threatened them with foreclosure. And when they stopped sending cows from their herd to the sale barn, they found themselves with nearly 250 (very hungry) mouths they would need to feed for many years to come.

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Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.

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