Sheep Industry News October 2024

Stop The Ban Continues Outreach

A s time ticks down toward election day on Nov. 5, Supe rior Farms continues to reach out to civic leaders – from restaurateurs to elected officials and local businesses – in an effort to defeat a citywide referendum that would outlaw slaughterhouses within the Denver city limits and shutter its lamb processing plant in the city. Employees of the company joined sheep industry leaders and other supporters at the Denver City and County Building on Sept. 11 to advocate for the plant’s survival, which would be shut down by 2026 if the referendum passes in November. The Denver facility accounts for 15 to 20 percent of annual lamb harvesting capacity in the United States. Around 60 people spoke against the ban, including Superior Farms employees, agriculture advocates and elected officials such as State Senator Byron Pelton, Denver Councilman Kevin Flynn and Councilman Darrell Watson, who represents the district where Superior Farms is located.

ver Pipefitters Union and VISIT DENVER. And more than 50 local restaurants and chefs have also endorsed the Stop the Ban campaign. “Lamb is a big deal in my restaurant. Especially for my Sunday only pop-up, where we do barbacoa,” Jose Avila, chef at La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal, told Westword . “It would impact me drastically. If I’m not getting it locally, there’s middlemen involved, there’s other drivers involved. Everything has a cost. It just gets to a point where it’s not feasible not to raise prices.” On Sept. 14, a televised debate on Denver referendums includ ed a session between former Denver City Councilwoman Robin Kniech and Natalie Bolton of Pro Animal Future, which spon sored the referendum. You can watch the debate at Youtube.com/ live/8H9D_56WMjg?t=5388s. Skip to an hour-and-a-half into the nearly three-hour session for the discussion on the slaughterhouse referendum. Pro Animal Future shared a lot about its plans both in Denver and beyond with the Our Hen House podcast in September. Com ments from Aidan Kankyoku included that the Denver referen dum is more about testing the group’s campaign and messaging. “So, we’d like to expand across the country. We’re starting with a pilot campaign in Denver to kind of figure out that model. Our top goal was to really learn about how to run these campaigns effectively and especially to learn about, like, what unexpected thing, what are we gonna face that we don’t know about right now? “And so next time, we’re going to be all more prepared.” And that’s all the more reason why defeating this referendum is so important to all of animal agriculture, not just those af fected by a possible plant closure in Denver.

Renee and Lonnie Deal, Sperry Livestock in Somerset and Delta, Colo., and ASI Executive Director Peter Orwick

Operations Manager Isabel Bautista said the 160 workers at the employee-owned plant consider it a family business and don’t want to lose their jobs. “Superior Farms has opened doors not just for me, but for so many,” Bautista told Westword . “I don't even want to think about [the ban passing]. That would be just terrible. That means we’d have to start all over. We are a family. I know the name of every single employee. I urge all Denver voters to consider the workers when they fill out their ballots this year.” Superior Farms has drawn support from livestock groups such as ASI, Colorado Wool Growers Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council and Colorado Livestock Association in an effort to defeat the ban. Additional support has come from a variety of sources, including the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, the Den

Workers from the Superior Farms plant in Denver show their support for the Stop the Ban campaign.

8 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org