Measure J & Other Ballot Measures to Ban Slaughterhouses, Explained

In November, voters in Sonoma County will vote on Measure J, which would ban factory farms in the rural California community where they reside. It’s one of the first ballot propositions of its kind, and if it passes, it could serve as a blueprint for similar efforts to end factory farming elsewhere in the country.

“Sonoma County is an agricultural county with factory farms that have been exposed for abusing animals, violating animal cruelty laws, and polluting waterways with toxic waste — and the authorities have failed to address it,” Cassie King, Communications Lead at Direct Action Everywhere, tells Sentient. Direct Action Everywhere is an animal rights organization, and one of the lead sponsors of Measure J. “So I think it’s kind of the perfect place to start, because it would have a significant tangible impact.”

The fight for Measure J is just one part of a broader movement by animal rights activists to ban factory farms; several other communities will be voting on similar ballot propositions in November. But what’s the big-picture strategy behind this movement — and will it actually help animals, or simply move meat production to other communities?

Which Other Communities Looking to Ban Factory Farms?

A similar ballot proposition, Measure DD, would ban Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in the city of Berkeley, California. As of this writing, Berkeley doesn’t have any CAFOs, so in that sense, the measure is purely a symbolic attempt to prove that it’s possible to ban factory farms via ballot proposition.

But up until June of this year, Berkeley did have one CAFO: Golden Gate Fields, a racetrack in which up to 1,400 horses were confined at once.  Though Golden Gate Fields shut down several months ago, it would have qualified as a CAFO under Measure DD’s definitions, which are the same as Measure J’s.

“People think, ‘oh, are CAFOs really going to open in Berkeley, an urban area without a lot of agricultural land?’,” King explains. “It did have a CAFO. And the Golden Gate Fields racetrack is a huge property that currently has an undecided future.”

In this sense, Measure DD isn’t just symbolic; it’s also a preemptive move to prevent any CAFOs from being established in Berkeley, at Golden Gate Fields or anywhere else.

Outside of California, voters in Denver will soon decide whether to pass Initiated Ordinance 309, which would ban slaughterhouses in the city. Denver only has one slaughterhouse — Superior Farms’ Globeville factory, which slaughters half a million lambs every year and is responsible for between 15 and 20 percent of all lamb processing capacity in the U.S., according to a report by the Regional Economic Development Institute.

What’s the Broader Strategy Behind the Anti-CAFO Movement?

One reason activists are seeking to ban CAFOs via ballot proposition is that doing so brings public attention to factory farms, and increases awareness of the anti-CAFO movement in general. Measure J has resulted in significant press coverage, and the fact that its fate will be decided directly by voters, not lawmakers, has generated a high level of public interest as well.

“It’s a test case, and whether it wins or loses, it’s generating tens of thousands of conversations in the county and many more beyond,” King tells Sentient. “And it’s making the end of factory farming visible for a lot of people who haven’t realized that it’s something we can achieve in our lifetimes.”

Ballot propositions aren’t the only strategy of anti-CAFO activists. There have been several attempts to pass legislation at the state level that would impose moratoriums on the construction of new factory farms as well. Most of these efforts have been unsuccessful, though there have been some limited successes, like one on a reservation in Minnesota. Meanwhile, Cory Booker’s Farm System Reform Act would impose a moratorium on new CAFOs at the federal level, and fully ban them in the United States by 2041.

Nevertheless, these legislative efforts have largely stalled. By contrast, efforts to improve the lives of farmed animals via ballot proposition have enjoyed a number of successes around the country, a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the activists behind Measure J.

Why Do Some Cities Want to Ban Factory Farms?

There are a number of common arguments against CAFOs, most of which concern their environmental impacts, their public health impacts and the welfare of animals. Measure J lists several reasons why factory farms should be banned, and they mirror the broader sentiments of the anti-CAFO movement.

Health and Environment

The large-scale environmental consequences of animal agriculture are well-documented. Between 11 and 20 percent of all global greenhouse gasses are the direct result of livestock farming, making the industry a significant contributor to global warming and airborne pollutants that can sicken humans. In Sonoma specifically, livestock farms are the third-biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2022 report from the Regional Climate Protection Authority.

Factory farms are a large source of water pollution in the United States. They often fill nearby waterways with a combination of animal waste and fertilizers; this kills aquatic life, creates harmful algal blooms and sickens humans who rely on the water to drink.

Disease is common in factory farms due to the cramped and unsanitary conditions in which the animals are kept. To combat this, farmers use massive amounts of antibiotics on the animals; over time, this contributes to the spread of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, a serious public health hazard that’s responsible for an estimated one million deaths every year.

While this isn’t visible in Sonoma or the other cities trying to ban factory farms, meat production is also the leading cause of deforestation worldwide, which itself has many of the same consequences of factory farming.

Animal Welfare

The ethical arguments against factory farms are just as substantial as the environmental ones. Despite the recent implementation of Proposition 12, which bans the extreme confinement of livestock in the state of California, farm animals in the state still endure massive suffering as a matter of regular practice. Chickens still have their beaks sliced off, pigs are still castrated without anesthetic, newborn calves are still separated from their mothers and livestock of all sorts are denied access to the outdoors.

Meanwhile, factory farms that don’t fall under Proposition 12’s jurisdiction are free to confine animals in even more suffocating enclosures, like battery cages and farrowing crates.

A number of investigations have revealed gruesome treatment of animals and unsanitary, unsafe conditions for workers and animals in Sonoma County farms specifically. At least one of these investigations prompted a raid by the local Sheriff’s office, so these concerns are by no means hypothetical.

Property Values

While it’s not the primary motivation behind the effort, Measure J’s proponents also claim that CAFOs bring down property values. This is true, according to the National Association of Realtors.

What Are the Arguments Against Measure J and Banning Factory Farms?

Opponents of Measure J argue that it will raise prices for agricultural products and put local farm employees out of business.

Daniel Sumner, a professor of agricultural economics at University of California Davis, told CBS News that Measure J will not raise prices, as other CAFOs near Sonoma could easily fill the gaps in production. If CAFOs were banned statewide, however, this could result in an increase in prices, he said — but that’s not what Measure J would do.

King notes that Sonoma County CAFOs “are already shipping a large amount of product out of the county, including across the country,” and that they could simply stop doing this if Measure J passes.

“If they’re scaling back their production to come into compliance with Measure J, they could reduce the amount of product they’re shipping out of the county, and it wouldn’t actually cause any difference in the amount of local food available,” King tells Sentient.

The No On J campaign also claims that greenhouse gasses would increase if Measure J is passed. This is quite the claim, given that Measure J would reduce the activity of factory farms, and factory farms emit enormous amounts of greenhouse gasses. The website argues that the closure of CAFOs in Sonoma would make trucks that deliver food to Sonoma drive longer distances, thus increasing emissions.

The campaign didn’t provide any methodology to back up this claim, but there’s good reason to doubt that it’s true: Of all food-related greenhouse gas emissions, only six percent come from the transportation of food, while a whopping 52 percent are the result of animal agriculture. Sentient reached out to the No on J campaign for clarification on its methodology, but has received no response.

How Does Measure J Work?

Measure J would ban all large CAFOs, and some medium-sized CAFOs, in Sonoma County.

Whether an individual farm constitutes a large or medium-sized CAFO depends on how many animals it houses, and what type of animals they are. For some species, the size classification also takes into account the weight of the animals, the manner in which their manure is disposed of, and in the case of chickens, whether they’re being raised for meat or eggs.

If Measure J is passed, the penalty for violating it will be steep: $1,000 for the first day, $5,000 for the second and $10,000 every day thereafter for as long as the farm is in violation.

However, CAFOs that are in violation of Measure J won’t be required to shutter their operations completely if the measure passes. They’ll simply need to reduce the number of animals in their facilities such that they no longer exceed Measure J’s limits. This is an important aspect of the measure that has big implications for Sonoma livestock.

How Many Farms Would Be Impacted by Measure J?

According to 2022 census data, there are 3,097 farms in Sonoma. Unfortunately, the census doesn’t say how many of those farms produce livestock, nor does it offer any information on how many animals are confined in individual farms. This makes it difficult to say with certainty how many farms would be affected by Measure J’s passage.

However, the Yes on J campaign says it has identified 21 large CAFOs in Sonoma, all of which would be banned under the measure, and zero small or medium-sized CAFOs. Of these 21 farms, 15 are bird farms, six are cattle farms, and one is a duck farm.

According to the Yes on J campaign’s analysis, there are around 3.4 million animals in the CAFOs that would be affected by Measure J. Approximately 3.2 million of these animals are chickens, while 205,000 are ducks and 6,180 are cows.

If Factory Farms Are Banned, What Happens to All of the Animals?

If factory farms or slaughterhouses were banned, wouldn’t the animals in them  either be killed or transferred to other slaughterhouses, thus negating any theoretical improvements to animal welfare?

Not exactly. It depends on how the ban in question would work, and specifically, how long of a phase-in period it has.

Measure J in Sonoma

Measure J has a three-year phase-in period. For this reason, its passage wouldn’t result in “excess” animals being slaughtered or transferred to other farms.

As mentioned earlier, chickens and other birds comprise the overwhelming majority — around 94 percent — of animals in the Sonoma farms that would be shut down by Measure J. But livestock chickens, regardless of whether they’re being raised for meat or eggs, do not live to be three years old. Chickens are killed for meat at around six weeks, while egg-laying hens are typically slaughtered after 18 to 24 months. This means that if Measure J passes, the vast majority of animals in Sonoma who are currently in factory farms will have already been killed by the time the measure takes effect.

Moreover, it’s important to remember that the CAFOs that house these birds have the option of reducing the number of animals within three years in order to come into compliance, rather than shutting down entirely.

Because livestock chickens don’t live very long, the easiest way for these farms to come into compliance with Measure J would be to put a temporary pause on buying new chicks shortly before the deadline. This way, the number of chickens on-site would fall below Measure J’s limits, allowing the farm to continue operating.

“[CAFO operators] could buy a smaller number of chickens, or breed a smaller number of ducks,” King tells Sentient. “And they would probably just do that right at the end of the three-year period, because why would they do it any sooner than they have to?”

Of course, farm operators could instead choose to continue buying new chicks regardless of the impending deadline, knowing full well that they’ll have to either slaughter or sell them before extracting as much profit  as they normally would.

While nobody can predict exactly what Sonoma farmers would do, the first option seems much more financially viable. But even if they chose the second path, the result would still be a net decrease in the number of chickens being housed in factory farms, in the short-run but especially in the long-run.

But what about the 6,000 cows in Sonoma CAFOs? Unlike chickens, they typically aren’t slaughtered before three years of age, meaning that some cows who are currently confined in CAFOs might still be alive when the deadline hits, should Measure J pass.

Even so, this still wouldn’t necessitate these cows being slaughtered, King says, because cattle farms still breed cows every year.

“That’s how they keep these moms producing milk,” King explains. “The farms could just breed fewer cows over those years, and they would be downsizing without slaughtering additional animals, or slaughtering animals any sooner than they already send these animals to be slaughtered.”

It is, of course, possible that some of the CAFOs will still be above the animal limit on the day Measure J takes effect, which would require them to either slaughter or sell them. But this would be a very small percentage of the total animals housed in Sonoma farms.

In short, Measure J’s passage would decrease the number of animals in Sonoma CAFOs, but it would not do this by transferring hundreds of thousands of animals to other CAFOs.

Measure DD in Berkeley

With regard to Measure DD in Berkeley, the question of what would happen to the animals is moot, as Berkeley doesn’t currently have any animals confined in CAFOs. If it passes, though, it would ensure that no animals in the city are placed in CAFOs in the future.

Initiated Ordinance 309 in Denver

The Denver ordinance is different in that it would ban slaughterhouses, not factory farms. A representative from Pro Animal Future, the organization behind Initiated Ordinance 309, tells Sentient that lambs are not housed in the Denver slaughterhouse for more than a day, so as with Measure DD, the ordinance wouldn’t result in a mass of animals who suddenly need somewhere to go.

Who Is Supporting and Opposing Measure J?

Measure J has been endorsed by a number of progressive, environmental, and animal rights organizations in the Sonoma area. Quite a few animal sanctuaries are supporting Measure J as well.

However, many farms, ranches and other agricultural producers in the area oppose Measure J, and so do some of the trade organizations representing workers in these areas. In addition, several local Democratic Party affiliates, as well as the Sonoma County Republican Party, are opposing Measure J.

The Bottom Line

As of this writing, there’s been no public polling on Measure J or Measure DD, and the lone public poll in Denver on Ordinance 309 showed voters evenly split, so the odds that these measures will become law are anybody’s guess. But King predicts that regardless of whether these efforts succeed, there will be more attempts in the near future to ban factory farms and crack down on industrialized animal cruelty via ballot measures.

“Measure J is groundbreaking, and it’s a first attempt to put factory farming on the ballot to let people decide whether they want to allow it,” King says. “We expect that more attempts will follow, and that this will just continue to build momentum for the movement to end factory farming.”

Clarification: an explanation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been clarified.