Dear John,

The animal agriculture industry attempts to paint itself as a collection of small family farms, but nothing could be further from the truth. Large — often multinational — corporations have overtaken animal agriculture in the United States. There is nothing small about this cruel and destructive industry, yet the Small Business Administration (SBA) is proposing a rule that will allow it to give small business loans to even larger factory farms.

Please take a few minutes to submit a comment telling the SBA that you oppose propping up factory farms with funds intended to help small businesses.

Unfortunately, the SBA has a history of enabling the animal agriculture industry’s exploitation of funds. In 2018, the SBA Office of the Inspector General released a report concluding that the SBA guaranteed approximately $1.8 billion in loans to factory farms that did not actually qualify as small businesses. The Animal Legal Defense Fund has urged the SBA not to fund the corporate animal agriculture industry and is currently suing over the federal government’s decision to exempt federal funding for factory farms from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Factory farms intensively confine thousands, and even millions, of animals until they grow large enough to be trucked to slaughter. Not only do they hurt animals, factory farms threaten public health by spreading antibiotic resistant bacteria and zoonotic diseases and pollute the air and water. These environmental effects are especially harmful in marginalized communities, where factory farms are disproportionately sited.

The SBA should not be using public money to further entrench this industry at the expense of animals, the environment, and rural communities. We need your help in asking the SBA to reconsider its proposal to expand federal funding of factory farms. Please submit a comment by December 1st in opposition to this reckless rule. Thank you for your advocacy.

For the animals,

Cristina Stella
Managing Attorney