Bryan Cutler has introduced legislation that would make it a first-degree misdemeanor for protesters to set foot on farmland, calling such places "biosecurity areas". Huh?

The only "security" such legislation will protect is the financial security of Agribusiness. This bill will only serve to protect an industry from regulation and public inquiry.

Cutler is claiming that this legislation will protect farmers (no mention of the animals other than that disease could reduce their numbers) from potential danger to their livestock (he only cites concerns over the money that could cost, never animals' suffering). Is this a REAL reason to make it a crime to protest at a farm? NO.

Protesters aren't entering barns; they're standing in driveways, along the road, outside of buildings. They're asking farmers to be responsible to and compassionate toward their animals, to treat them humanely and to stop polluting the groundwater and soil with their toxic runoff. This legislation is essentially an attempt to silence protesters who have very valid concerns about how livestock is abused, from the moment an animal is born to the minute it's slaughtered. Methods used in the US are unheard of in many other developed countries, so our inhumane procedures are NOT required for profitable farming.

Greed, and the desire to "process" animals quickly leads to horrific abuse. Agribusiness profits when there are no rules to prevent this cruelty -- and Mr. Cutler's bill will protect Agribusiness from anyone who might question how they do business. Why does Agribusiness get a free pass? Because they support candidates, making the elected legislators their pawns.