SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE AGRICULTURE PROJECT INC

SRAP’s Water Rangers Program works with rural communities to protect their right to clean water and hold industrial livestock operations accountable for pollution. We provide free water testing training and offer instruction on documenting and reporting pollution violations to U.S. EPA, state, and local regulators.

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and other industrial livestock operations are among the worst water polluters in the U.S. Because they confine so many animals in one place, these facilities generate vast quantities of waste, which is typically stored onsite before being applied untreated to surrounding land. Unfortunately, mismanagement and overapplication of waste is common, causing ground and surface waters to be contaminated with pollutants such as nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter, heavy metals, and harmful pathogens like E. coli, Salmonella, and Cryptosporidium.

SRAP understands the threats community members face when an industrial livestock facility comes to town. We also know the importance and need for organizing to build a better food future. Through tech talks, webinars, action alerts, and agriculture policy briefings, the Socially Responsible Food & Farm Network unites advocates. The network engages farmers and community members to advocate on behalf of regenerative food systems, social justice, climate initiatives, public health, animal welfare, and other critical issues. With regular opportunities to connect with state, regional, and national coalitions and organizations, plus additional access to training events and educational materials, network participants will learn to more effectively influence policymakers and U.S. residents, alike, on the food and agriculture concerns that matter most.

Often overlooked, small farmers are being exploited every day at the hands of the agribusiness giants who control today’s increasingly consolidated and concentrated industrial system. Unchecked consolidation and vertical integration, where corporations control multiple stages of the production process, have created an imbalance of power. The Contract Grower Transition Program* allows SRAP to further transform rural communities by engaging contract growers and producers struggling within the industrial agriculture system. Through the Transition Program, SRAP supports contract growers hoping to exit the industry, and provides resources to prevent others from becoming trapped in this system. SRAP aims to simultaneously reduce the number of contract growers trapped by the corporate agriculture model, while equipping them to advocate for a socially responsible animal agriculture system that prioritizes public health, the environment, and animal welfare.