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NO ON MEASURE J: PROTECT ANIMALS, SAVE LOCAL ORGANIC FOOD & FARMS
At Straus Family Creamery, our belief in organic farming is deeply rooted in our commitment to land stewardship that preserves the environment for future generations and the humane treatment of animals, a fundamental principle of organic production. All the dairy cows from our 13 family farms are raised according to USDA organic standards and animal welfare requirements, guaranteeing that animals maximize pasture feeding and outdoor access, are never treated with antibiotics or hormones, and are only fed 100% certified organic non-GMO feeds.
This November, Sonoma County will vote on Measure J, a public ballot initiative which seeks to drastically limit dairy and poultry livestock operations by unreasonably capping the number of animals raised on each farm. The impact of any reduction of size or number of farms in Western Sonoma County would be devastating to our rural communities and our local ag industry, negatively impacting the surrounding service industries, including veterinarians and others who care for and feed animals.
If passed, Measure J will undermine our decades of transformational work to build the sustainable organic farming community we have today, causing major harm to our local economy, damaging our local food system, and placing Straus’ network of organic family farms at risk of going out of business. Moreover, Measure J does nothing to improve animal welfare or water quality and only outsources food production to operations with fewer regulatory protections.
Straus Family Creamery opposes Measure J in order to protect and strengthen local organic farms. We are proud to have helped build a sustainable and organic food system in our Northern California Bay Area region of Marin & Sonoma Counties. However, the consequences of Measure J, if passed, would be antithetical to our mission of sustaining family farms.
Measure J is poorly written. Its misleading goal to end “factory farming” may sound appealing, but the unintended consequences of Measure J far outweigh any positive intent. Its unclear and imprecise targeting would ban organic farms that supply our region—and much of the state—with fresh, certified organic food free of pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. This will cause immediate and permanent harm to many organic farmers who farm in harmony with the environment while demonstrating exemplary animal welfare. Without access to milk from these supplying farms, Straus Family Creamery and other well-known local brands would thus be unable to craft our consumer-preferred organic products.
Measure J would harm our local organic community. When farms in our community close, reliance on food production and livestock shifts to imports from other areas of the country and the world, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting our ability to ensure animal welfare and environmental integrity.
Vote No on J in November to support our regional food system. Measure J has united Democrats, Republicans, environmental organizations, animal welfare activists, organic farmers, conventional farmers, small farmers, large farmers, labor unions, and more to protect the agricultural heritage that defines Sonoma County and the greater North Bay.
We invite you to investigate Measure J on your own to understand the threat it places on our community:
Paid for by Straus Family Creamery