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submitted 11 months ago by spaceghoti@lemmy.one to c/politics@lemmy.world

All 10 of the largest U.S. meat and dairy companies have lobbied against environmental and climate policies, resisting climate regulations, including rules on greenhouse gases and emissions reporting. This is according to a study by New York University, which examined the political influence of the 10 largest meat and dairy companies in the United States.

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[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 169 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

100% of the top 10 meat and dairy companies.

That should be in the title—otherwise it implies that every family dairy in the country has its own team of lobbyists.

[-] roguetrick@kbin.social 29 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Closer to the truth though. Most are part of organizations that include lobbyists that would oppose anything that negatively impacts the industry. I don't find that particularly nefarious of course.

[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 40 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It’s not that the title isn’t still mostly true—it’s that the impossible statement discredits the rest of the article.

[-] 9point6@lemmy.world 26 points 11 months ago

Precisely this, if you've got a point to make, don't sensationalise the headline, it only makes it easy for people to discredit and ignore without even reading the article.

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[-] Venutianxspring@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 11 months ago

The title is misleading, however the top companies take up such a huge market share that it might as well be a true statement. I know there are companies trying to make some difference and I hate media sensationalism

[-] Mereo@lemmy.ca 16 points 11 months ago

It is a sensationalist title, sigh

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[-] the_q@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Well I promise they aren't upset with having their industry lobbied for.

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[-] Arin@kbin.social 76 points 11 months ago

IDK why corporate lobbing is still legal, wtf outlaw it asap

[-] CrazyEddie041@kbin.social 61 points 11 months ago

It's legal because the people who benefit from corporate lobbying are the same people who determine what is legal.

[-] rdrunner@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago

Yup! And it's exactly why the system will never change on its own. The people in power will never voluntarily give up that power. Why does Congress get to vote on its own salary?!

[-] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 13 points 11 months ago

Ah, what you are missing is that the people who make those laws are the same ones being lobbied, and lobbying means giving money to them.

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[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 68 points 11 months ago

Huh, well imagine that. The biggest sources of the problem is against doing anything about it.

What I find pretty wild is that our government even helps them do more of it by boosting terrible diet choices, including pushing it onto children.

[-] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago

It's all about profit. If some new discovery magically made dairy climate friendly but also increased profits by 12%, every producer would be on board tomorrow. They don't give a fuck about climate one way or the other, just profit. It's just that one position allows them to keep making their profits without having to make any changes. No points for guessing which position it is.

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[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 57 points 11 months ago

Holy misleading headline, Batman!

I'm not saying that there isn't a problem with the industries, but the 10 largest in one country is NOT "100% of all meat and dairy companies" or anywhere near that!

A sample size of the 10 largest in a country where it's literally impossible to get to the top 10 anything company without truly despicable practices is some supercharged selection bias!

[-] mrpants@midwest.social 36 points 11 months ago

The 4 largest companies control 70% of the market. Markets tend to be one to three companies taking the lions share and then a long tail.

The top 10 will easily round up to 100%.

I'd also be hard pressed to find a meat producer that actually supported climate initiatives and wasn't some super small farmer.

https://www.reuters.com/business/how-four-big-companies-control-us-beef-industry-2021-06-17/

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[-] Copernican@lemmy.world 55 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Wtf is with quality on lemmy world these days. How is a medium article written like an ethics 101 student using ai assistance news worthy. It's formula 1 sentence summary linked to an article source, with one sentence over generalized conclusion... Over and over and over.

[-] Mago@lemmy.world 53 points 11 months ago

Very dishonest click bait. Moderators should clean this stuff up in order to prevent redditification.

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago

Not sure how it is clickbait - it's just the headline is overstating the case by claiming 100%, when it should say 100% of the 10 largest companies - which are responsible for how much of the nation's market of meat and dairy? If it's like just about every other market, a few top players grab up most the market share and set the overall agenda.

[-] mob@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

Are they top 10 of dairy, meat, or both? What share of the market do they hold in each respective field, and combined fields? It's pretty arbitrary for claiming 100% of. Would you consider the same concept acceptable elsewhere with different subject like..

100% of Rappers and Democrats voted for Kanye in 2020. Top 10 selling rappers and Democrats on Spotify voted for Kanye.

Obviously I made that up... but I think you'd consider it dishonest clickbait.

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[-] Seudo@lemmy.world 42 points 11 months ago

100%

10 of the biggest

Always handy when a pop-sci article discredits itself without having to read it.

[-] eskimofry@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

100% is 10 out of all the 10 companies they investigated.

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[-] TheBat@lemmy.world 40 points 11 months ago

Oh no! Who could've known this? What's next? Oil companies lobbying against environmental and climate policies?

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[-] ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works 37 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I’m pretty sure this headline is impossible

Also, medium is a blog.

[-] abraxas@sh.itjust.works 20 points 11 months ago

Came here to say this. I have a friend that's a meat and dairy company, and she (yup, 1 person for-profit farm) doesn't lobby for or against shit.

That gets us under 100% already.

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[-] Denalduh@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

Added to the filter! See yha never medium!

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[-] H0neyc0mb@lemmy.world 35 points 11 months ago

I know a lot of people are new here but this kind of shit should be moderated better... Link to the study, not someone's blog

[-] beveradb@lemm.ee 9 points 11 months ago

Agreed, this is a blog post from 3 days ago but all of the sources they link in the footer are from early 2021... nothing new here and this article is a biased mess.

That said, there's nothing surprising here anyway, lobbying in the US is just bribery and corruption by another term and obviously these companies are going to do anything they can to defend their profits

[-] Fades@lemmy.world 31 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

fucking meat factories are killing the animals and the goddamn planet

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[-] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 24 points 11 months ago

The vegan propaganda campaign is back at it again.

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago
[-] Nevoic@lemm.ee 11 points 11 months ago

Stating uncomfortable facts about the world that people would otherwise gladly ignore.

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[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

You know that this can't possibly be true, because most meat and dairy companies do not have a lobbying arm, right? Right in the first sentence it says it's the top 10 largest, but let's go ahead and put some bullshit in the headline anyway right?

[-] Smoked_Brie 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I think we need to slow down on placing all the blame on cows and other ruminants. It’s not the farming that’s causing problems, it’s the fact that we’ve gotten away from regenerative agriculture, and how to actually work with the land.

My Wife is a part of a farm that just got the USDA Climate Smart grant. The grant basically outlines how to sequester more carbon into the soil by using cattle and other ruminants and doing pasture grazing rotations, using trees, and some other things. The thing that blows most people away when she talks about it is that cows are and never were the problem – it’s Big Ag.

The way of farming cattle nowadays is very inefficient and a problem for the environment. This is because of the ways cattle are finished before processing. Instead of being grass fed - grass finished, farmers send their cattle’s out to feed lots in the Midwest. They are jam packed in areas where they can’t adequately space out, which leads to an excess of their excrements in one spot. THIS is the problem. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

This problem only stems from the larger issue that Big Ag doesn’t care how land is managed or farmed as long as it’s baseline is about production. But it’s not like non-GMO and organic is easy to do, both growing and the paperwork, so it’s just bad all around….

[-] nichtsowichtig@feddit.de 18 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Grassfed Cattle needs an infeasible amount of land. The only efficient or environmentally 'friendly' way would be substituting them with plant-based alternatives. Cows obviously are not the problems. It's us humans who breed them for the sole purpose of exploiting them when there are other, greener and more eithical alternatives

Edit: here a very informative video addressing most of the arguments in favor of grass-fed livestock

Edit 2: Another one by the same creator about regenerative grazing

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[-] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 14 points 11 months ago

I mean, we all know the memes, but there has to be like a nuanced take take on why this is the case, right? Is it literally the case that they just don't give a goddamn about climate change and they're just going to get theirs while they can and to hell with everything else? Because it's going to be awful hard to keep your cows fed when climate change starts fucking up their feed crops, and we're pretty much there right now, as far as I understand it.

[-] DessertStorms@kbin.social 20 points 11 months ago

The entire system relies on infinite growth in a finite world, trying to find logic in it is futile, never mind ethics..

[-] nueonetwo@lemmy.ca 15 points 11 months ago

Is it literally the case that they just don't give a goddamn about climate change and they're just going to get theirs while they can and to hell with everything else?

Yup, that's my understanding. They probably aren't full on deniers, they know it's real, they just don't want to do the hard work and take the pay cuts that will progress us forward into the future.

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[-] kumatomic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 11 months ago

Not at all biased when the article starts out with a likely out of context picture of a cow looking terrified and as if it's crying. Fuck corporations, all of them, fuck them all, but there are a few of us with severe enough allergies that without meat we would starve. Ableist bullshit to believe everyone can stop eating meat.

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[-] lustyargonian@lemm.ee 13 points 11 months ago

Ah water is indeed wet.

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this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
1101 points (100.0% liked)

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