By Mackenzie Johnston

Despite having little to no background in the agriculture industry or understanding of the industry, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker has made it a priority to focus his political career on agriculture. Booker was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in New Jersey. His educational career involved stints at Stanford, Oxford and Yale. He prides himself as being an outspoken vegan who often aligns with animal extremists.

In 2019 and again in 2021, the New Jersey Senator introduced the Farm Systems Reform Act (FSRA) (https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3221/all-info). Among other things, FSRA was written to cease the building of new concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and eliminate all existing CAFOs by January 2040. The EPA’s definition of a large CAFO includes operations with at least 700 diary cows, 2,500 pigs, 1,000 beef cattle or 125,000 broiler chickens.

This bill would do away with the majority of feedlots across America, making our industry unrecognizable. Of course, FSRA would impact all animal protein industries and make it impossible to not only feed our country, but also the world.

In an effort to present this piece of legislation in a positive light to farmers and ranchers, Senator Booker included the restoration of MCOOL for beef, pork and dairy. He also included amendments to theoretically strengthen the Packers and Stockyards Act.

Throughout Senator Booker’s career, he has been heavily involved with HSUS, PETA and ASPCA. Back in 2017, he attended the annual, high class Farm Animal Protection benefit in Los Angeles. At the fundraiser he was honored with the organization’s Humanitarian of the Year award for his political work.

According to VegNews https://vegnews.com/2019/2/cory-booker-on-animal-rights-veganism-and-how-to-change-the-world, Booker chooses to be a vegan because he believes that our planet cannot sustain billions of people consuming industrially produced animal agriculture because of the environmental impact. This idea by Booker exemplifies his lack of knowledge when it comes to agriculture. The Senator has clearly never visited large modern farms or held a conversation with someone in the industry because if he did, he would know that efficiency in agriculture has improved immensely through the years as we have improved our use of valuable resources and produce more now with less than ever before.

On November 30, 2021, Booker teamed up with California Representative Ro Khana, one of the original cosponsors of the Green New Deal and introduced Protecting America’s Meatpacking Workers Act of 2021 (https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3285/text?r=70&s=1). On the surface, this bill claims it will improve transparency, deliver much needed reforms in the cattle industry and regulate the packers for everyone’s good. However, if you read this bill you will discover that it would shut down our major meatpacking industry, which would result in feedlots across the U.S. having nowhere to go with their cattle and consumers not being able to purchase beef.

Senator Booker has no concept of major animal protein production and how it feeds our country and the world. It’s humorous that such an individual who claims to be in touch with agriculture thinks that we can feed the billions of people around the world with farmers markets.

Booker’s long-term goal is to end mainstream animal agriculture. For anyone in agriculture, specifically the cattle industry, to get behind any of his legislation and give him a platform is ridiculous.

Is Cory Booker a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?

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