Actress urges USDA to fund plant-based ag

May 25, 2020

Alicia Silverstone released a video with Mercy for Animals

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A Hollywood actress is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to change how it supports producers.

Alicia Silverstone, in partnership with Mercy for Animals, is calling on the USDA to help livestock, poultry and dairy farmers transition to plant-based protein production.

COVID-19 has caused numerous challenges in the ag industry. Meat processors, for example, have scaled back production to help ensure employee safety.

These measures have created backlogs on farms and, in some cases, necessitated the euthanization of livestock.

The federal government has announced the investment of billions of dollars to help producers and processors navigate these unprecedented challenges.

But the USDA should invest in alternative proteins instead, Silverstone says.

“We need to use taxpayer dollars to transition away from this cruel system and instead help farmers transition to growing plant-based foods,” she says in the video.

Farms.com has reached out to industry groups for comment.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.