The farming industry has suffered from a lack of respect, acoordinator from the Humane Society of the United States said in aspeech Thursday.
Chris Bedford, national campaign coordinator for HSUS, spoke at4 p.m. and said the Freshman Connection's book, "Fast Food Nation:The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" by Eric Schlosser is animportant book because of the state of the industry.
"Food is going to be a serious political issue of the nextcentury," Bedford said.
Bedford compared how the fast food industry operates to a largefactory system that is taking away the traditional family farmingsystem.
"The assembly line runs across the whole country," Bedford said."The end of the assembly line is the drive through pick-upwindow."
From personal experience in viewing and investigating thefactories, Bedford describes them as "probably the closest thing toa living Hell on Earth. They are so disrespectful to everyoneinvolved - workers and animals."
Bedford described the poor living conditions suffered by animalsin these factories including living crates for pigs that measure 7feet long, 2 feet wide and just over 3 feet tall.
"These animals are such hybrids that they depend on us, and theycannot survive outside the factory," Bedford said. "The only waythey can be kept alive in these conditions is by feeding themantibiotics."
Bedford said depending on which groups people believe, 70 to 93percent of all antibiotics made in this country go to animals, nothumans.
"I am a vegetarian, and that is what sparked my interest,"Amanda Teirney, Indiana Academy student, said.
"I thought he was a very eloquent speaker. I think he covered abroad perspective."
Bedford also spoke about how the HSUS "Care 4 Iowa Campaign" hasrevealed some devastating issues.
"Industrial agriculture is killing the state," Bedford said."Communities are boarding up, schools are closing and churches areclosing."
There is no way to industrialize out of this problem thatindustry itself has created, Bedford said.
"The way to restore life to our system is to begin to respectnature," Bedford said. "We need to bring farmers and consumerstogether in a conversation about food."
Bedford plans to accomplish this one farmer and one consumer ata time, he said.
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