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    • Worker JusticeAdvocating for safe conditions, fair wages, and dignity for farmers and laborers
    • Farmers & Rural CommunitiesStrengthening local food systems through fair and equitable markets
    • Climate & Environmental ProtectionWorking to stop deceptive greenwashing and enforcing environmental laws
    • Animal WelfareFighting Ag-Gag laws that stifle protests against inhumane factory farming
    • Consumer RightsDefending the right to clear labeling and transparency about food production practices
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Animal Welfare

Just as the factory farming system is built on cruelty to people, its survival also depends upon the inhumane treatment of animals.   

The industrial animal ag business model requires packing thousands of animals tightly into warehouses, keeping them from moving naturally or accessing sunlight, and creating breeding grounds for disease. 

FarmSTAND knows that bringing about a system that’s better for workers, independent producers of food, and rural communities will make things better for animals, too. Rather than ask corporations to do better by animals, we take on the whole system and all its harms.

By the numbers

7

States in which FarmSTAND has challenged at least one Ag-Gag law.

88%

Of consumers said they’re willing to pay more for sustainable and responsibly-sourced seafood products.

82,000

Or more laying hens crammed into a building for an agricultural enterprise constitute a “confined animal feeding operation” or “CAFO”.

Focus Areas

FarmSTAND fights for the First Amendment rights of activists and journalists to conduct undercover investigations of conditions at factory farms, so the public can understand how our food is made. FarmSTAND has been a national leader in striking down ‘ag-gag’ laws that ban or otherwise inhibit investigations into industrial ag facility conditions and stifle public protest of factory farms.

Consumers continue to say they want to choose food products created under more humane conditions for animals. Because Big Ag can’t square public compassion for animals with their method for creating profit at all costs, deceiving consumers is one of their key tactics.

Without the essential and constitutionally-protected work of drone photojournalists, we would lose critical information about how factory farms suck up precious land and water resources, pollute their surrounding communities, and deceive consumers about the conditions for animals in these facilities.

We have helped defend state bans on extreme confinement of animals, highlighting how Big Ag’s practices not only cause the animals misery, but also facilitate the spread of zoonotic diseases that endanger workers and their communities.

Solutions

As major food companies go back on their animal welfare promises, we stand apart by tackling the whole system. Corporations have turned animals into units of production and farmers into managers of an industrial system. We fight practices that cause unnecessary suffering, expose conditions companies would rather keep hidden, and push for a food system that does not sacrifice animal welfare for speed, scale, and profit. These cases can protect animals directly while also challenging the industrial model that drives their suffering.

Impact

We use every tool in our toolbox to prevent the inhumane treatment of animals while tackling industrial agriculture’s human and environmental harms. This includes nontraditional approaches like utilizing worker safety laws to make meatpacking giants accountable for how they treat both people and animals.

FarmSTAND has led the efforts that struck down ag-gag laws that shield industrial animal agriculture from scrutiny in North Carolina, Iowa, and Wyoming, and has challenged ag-gag statutes in four other states, as well. We also joined allies to urge the Federal Aviation Administration to reject a rule that would keep animal agribusiness from drone oversight. 

Featured Deep Dive

Deep Dive: Hormel

Hormel wants you to make the “Natural Choice.” Documents we’ve made public reveal how that is anything but.
Read More

Recent Cases

Updated on September 21, 2026

Equal Rights for Pennsylvania Ag Workers (UFCW 1776 v. Pennsylvania)

Worker Justice

Agricultural workers deserve the same workplace protections as all other workers. But in […]

View case
Updated on September 14, 2026

Stopping Big Salmon Greenwashing (Harris v. Trapananda Seafarms)

Animal Welfare Climate & Environmental Protection Consumer Rights

Big Aquaculture is following the same model of environmental degradation, worker exploitation, and […]

View case
Updated on September 14, 2026

Demanding Environmental Review of Mega-Dairy Expansion (Riverview West River Dairy Expansion)

Animal Welfare Climate & Environmental Protection

Mega-dairies, which confine tens of thousands of cows, create devastating environmental and […]

View case
Updated on September 14, 2026

Fighting Politicized Restrictions on Food System Grantees (Washington Farmland Trust v. USDA)

Farmers & Rural Communities

In 2026, The Trump Administration’s USDA began imposing unlawful, unprecedented department-wide […]

View case
Updated on September 14, 2026

Haciendo valer el derecho de personas trabajadoras agrícolas de recibir visitantes (Colorado Legal Services v. Southern Colorado Farms) 

Worker Justice

Click here to read this case page in English.  La histórica Ley de Derechos de Trabajadores […]

View case
Updated on September 14, 2026

No Corporate Impunity for Roundup (Monsanto v. Durnell)

Farmers & Rural Communities Worker Justice

Farmers and farmworkers are standing up to say that Monsanto and its Big Ag industry friends do not […]

View case
Updated on September 14, 2026

Fighting Court Secrecy on Alleged Big Ag Anticompetitive Behavior (USA v. Agri Stats)

Consumer Rights Farmers & Rural Communities

Throughout our food system, you’ll find Big Ag corporations playing dirty, manipulating the […]

View case
Updated on September 14, 2026

Monitoring FERC to stop Factory Farm Gas

Climate & Environmental Protection

Big Ag loves to tout a fantasy where factory farm gas, which is methane gas produced from waste […]

View case
Updated on September 14, 2026

Protecting Oregon’s Waters from Industrial Aquaculture (CFS v. Pacific Bio Products)

Animal Welfare Climate & Environmental Protection

Industrial aquaculture poses many of the same threats as industrial land-based agriculture does to […]

View case
Updated on September 14, 2026

Fighting Anti-Haitian Discrimination at JBS (Pierre v. JBS USA)

Worker Justice

JBS, the largest meat company in the world, exploited over 1,000 Haitian workers recruited under […]

View case
Updated on September 14, 2026

Enforcing Farm Workers’ Right to Visitors (Colorado Legal Services v. Southern Colorado Farms)

Worker Justice

Colorado’s landmark 2021 Farm Worker Bill of Rights enshrined the right of agricultural workers […]

View case
Updated on September 14, 2026

Challenging Civil Rights Rollbacks at EEOC (Cross v. EEOC)

Worker Justice

Under the Trump Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has betrayed […]

View case

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If you believe you have a case for us regarding animal welfare, please click below to send our legal team more details. 

Get in Touch

Latest News

September 21, 2026

UFCW 1776 Sues State of Pennsylvania To End Unconstitutional Labor Law Exception for Agriculture

Press Releases
Read more
September 9, 2026

The hidden money fueling the pork industry’s fight to keep pigs in tiny cages

In The News
Read more
September 8, 2026

Dairy Farm Expansion Project Sparks Lawsuit from Environmental Advocacy Groups

In The News
Read more
August 27, 2026

Class of Consumers Sues Industrial Salmon Giant Over Alleged Deceptive Marketing of “Mama Bear” Products’ Sustainability

Press Releases
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August 25, 2026

We Won’t Let the Trump Administration Twist the Truth on Dangerous Line Speeds

Insights
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August 3, 2026

Big Ag is Pushing for More Power Over the Food System Workforce. We’re Fighting Back.

Insights
Read more
August 3, 2026

Minnesota Ag Connection: Environmental Groups Oppose Riverview Dairy Growth Plan

In The News
Read more
July 31, 2026

Nonprofits Sue to Block New USDA Rules That Force Them to Change or Abandon Food Access Work

Press Releases
Read more
July 30, 2026

Capital Press: Animal-rights activists take aim at ‘no-drone zones’ over farms

In The News
Read more
July 30, 2026

Law360: USDA Sued By Nonprofits Over Anti-DEI Grant Conditions

In The News
Read more
July 30, 2026

Grist: 4 things to know about cyclospora and climate change

In The News
Read more
July 30, 2026

Groups Sue MN Over Failure To Consider Environmental Impacts of Riverview Mega-Dairy Expansion

Press Releases
Read more
View All

What We Tackle

Our Issues

Worker Justice

Worker justice is central to the fight to transform our food system. FarmSTAND seeks to ensure the health, safety, and dignity of work for all food system workers. 

Learn more

Consumer Rights

We are taking action to enforce environmental laws, and stop deceptive corporate greenwashing and false climate solutions.

Learn more

Climate & Environmental Protection

We are taking action to enforce environmental laws, and stop deceptive corporate greenwashing and false climate solutions. 

Learn more

Farmers & Rural Communities

We work alongside farmers and ranchers to change the rules and stories that promote industrial animal agriculture. FarmSTAND is paving the way for a food system that keeps resources in the hands of those who feed us. 

Learn more

National Headquarters
712 H Street NE Suite 2534
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 595-8816

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  • Our Issues
    • Worker JusticeAdvocating for safe conditions, fair wages, and dignity for farmers and laborers
    • Farmers & Rural CommunitiesStrengthening local food systems through fair and equitable markets
    • Climate & Environmental ProtectionWorking to stop deceptive greenwashing and enforcing environmental laws
    • Animal WelfareFighting Ag-Gag laws that stifle protests against inhumane factory farming
    • Consumer RightsDefending the right to clear labeling and transparency about food production practices
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