USFRA recently teamed up with the Animal Agriculture Alliance for an “Eating Animals”: Myths and Facts resource guide. For background, the new documentary Eating Animals claims to address the question of where our meat, milk, poultry and eggs come from.

The film attempts to answer that question without including perspectives from modern farmers and ranchers or the organizations that represent them. The Animal Agriculture Alliance and USFRA, along with the farmers, ranchers and other members of the agriculture community collaborated to address some of the biggest myths in agriculture, including the following:

Myth #1: Animal welfare is not a priority on large, modern farms. Fact: Animal care has always been important to livestock and poultry producers – regardless of farm size. According to USDA, 97 percent of U.S. farms are family-owned operations. Farm families take their ethical obligation to providing the best quality care to their animals very seriously.

Animal safety, health and comfort are top priorities for farmers and ranchers, which include different types of housing, diet and overall management practices used to best raise animals for food.

Myth #2: Farmers are not concerned about the environment. Fact: For generations, farmers and ranchers across the country have raised animals not only in an ethical manner, but also in an environmentally sound and sustainable manner, if for no other reason, to ensure that they can pass their farms on to the next generation. After all, farmers and ranchers breathe the same air and drink the same water as their neighbors.

Myth #3: Antibiotic misuse is rampant within animal agriculture. Fact: Antibiotics are an important tool in ensuring animal health and high standards of animal care. Farmers work closely with veterinarians to use antibiotics responsibly and provide consumers with safe food.

As of Jan. 1, 2017, antibiotics that are similar to those used in human medicine cannot legally be used to promote growth in food animals. The growth promotion uses of medically important antibiotics have been eliminated, and all remaining uses of these antibiotics in feed and water must be done under the supervision of a veterinarian. More about how farmers, veterinarians and FDA collaborated to make this significant change can be found at togetherabx.com.