Interview with Amanda Hitt, Whistleblower
Amanda Hitt is the founder and director of the Food Integrity Campaign of the Government Accountability Project – a Washington, DC, based nonprofit dedicated to whistleblower advocacy and protection.
What are you excited about in terms of the Food Integrity Campaign at the moment?
Some of our top line work involves exploring the aquaculture industry and working with community groups and whistleblowers from that sector. We are also working with communities who are pushing back against CAFO’s and protecting those community groups from retaliatory lawsuits. Other toplines include working on climate/Ag solutions (specifically exposing false solutions that would more deeply imbed industrial animal agriculture), and challenging corporate Ag consolidation. Our main policy work will be in Farm Bill, but also working on regulatory reforms.
What do you think the future holds for agricultural animal welfare?
I think the biggest challenge will be whether to keep animals in the food system, and if so, under what circumstances. Many Ag/climate solutions include meat animals of some kind.
What is your organization doing to better the planet?
We value everyone’s voice and ability to transform the system for the common good. We make voices heard combining legislation, litigation, and strategic communications. Our transdisciplinary multi-stakeholder approach means that we operate to promote the common good for all and to create a fairer more just planet.
Could you share a few words of advice for people wanting to raise awareness of factory farming?
We all eat and we all have role to play in promoting a more equitable and sustainable food future. Whether you live near a CAFO or not, or whether you do or do not eat factory farm meats, the activities carried out in factory farms impact you and our shared environment. For example, factory farms are unbridled polluters and with very little oversight create harms not only to surrounding water, soil, and communities but also contribute to global climate change. Additionally, pathogens, diseases and viruses are all part of the factory farm problem – not only foodborne illness and antibiotic resistance but pathogens that could spread disease all over the planet.
What are your thoughts on The Farm Bill? How can individuals help to change it?
The Farm Bill is full of possibilities for change. We are working in changing the subsidy system to value human food over animal feed, create viable climate solutions that emphasize plant-based alternatives, and working with legislators to ensure geopolitical food security in light of recent events.