May 19, 2006
 

Educate the young or lose them to vegetarianism, Alltech CEO tells producers

The agriculture industry needs to be active in telling its side of the story, especially on animal welfare issues as the public is unaware of how livestock is raised and do not know the origins of their meat, Alltech chief executive officer and president Pearse Lyons said.

As such, they can easily be mis-informed by animal groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Humane Society of the US (HSUS), whose approaches are popular with the young, he said.

Lyons said that the industry needs to adopt a step-by-step approach to challenge these well-funded interest groups.

Lyons stressed that the industry must not be robbed of the chance to tell its side of the story adding that there is a need to educate the young about farms and meat plants or they might be lost to vegetarianism.