Q&A in .pdf format

Who is YES! on 10/Floridians for Humane Farms?
Floridians for Humane Farms is a coalition of animal protection, conservation organizations and concerned citizens that launched a statewide initiative for the November 2002 ballot to ban gestation crates used to confine breeding pigs.

How do you get an initiative on the ballot?
Volunteers are required to gather 489,000 signatures from registered Florida voters around the state in order to gain access to the ballot.

What are gestation crates?
Pigs used for breeding in the U.S. are commonly kept in gestation crates - small metal enclosures just two feet wide where the animals cannot even turn around. Unable to exercise or move, the pigs experience muscle and bone weakness that can lead to lameness. They become neurotic, engaging in repetitive coping behaviors. Pigs are intelligent, curious animals who deserve more than to be kept in very small crates for 80 percent of their lives, or about four years.

Isn’t the use of the crate necessary to protect the mother from rolling or stepping on the piglets?
Gestation crates are not farrowing crates. Immediately after impregnation, a sow is locked in a gestation crate for the majority of her pregnancy - nearly four months. At the end of her pregnancy - shortly before the birth of her piglets - she is moved from the gestation crate to another crate called a farrowing crate, for the birthing process. After the piglets are weaned, the sow is reimpregnated and returned to the gestation crate. The farrowing crate, which can protect the piglets from the movements of the sow, is exempted from this amendment.

Why focus on gestation crates?
Gestation crates are among the cruelest confinement techniques used on farms - both in terms of the intensity of confinement and the duration of confinement. With the industrialization of pork production, these cruel crates are becoming more and more prevalent.

Why launch this initiative in Florida?
Florida's climate is conducive to raising pigs outdoors so only a handful of farms use gestation crates. Besides alleviating the suffering of pigs currently being confined in gestation crates, this measure will prevent mega hog factories from moving into Florida as they have in North Carolina. There, the environment has been severely damaged, property values have gone down, and the tourism industry has suffered.

Why do farmers use gestation crates?
Gestation crates are used to maximize profitability and efficiency in pork production. In these crates, the animals are treated more as unfeeling commodities than as living, feeling animals.

How will pigs be raised if the gestation crate is illegal?
Most pig farmers in Florida already raise pigs without using gestation crates, so those currently using gestation crates could do the same. In European countries where similar legislation has been enacted, pig farmers have generally opted for a group housing system where the sows are kept together in more spacious conditions

Will this initiative put farmers out of business?
This measure is targeted at the large factory pig farms that are displacing small family farms. Not only will this effort protect animals, it could help protect small farmers from corporate mega farms. Furthermore, farmers will have six years to phase out their gestation crates allowing ample time for the transition.

Why does this initiative seek an amendment to the constitution?
The Florida Constitution allows citizens to take matters directly to voters through the initiative process, but it allows only constitutional amendments. Florida citizens have banned gill nets, reformed the lottery, and adopted several other reforms through the initiative process. Florida citizens seeking to ban gestation crates turned to the initiative process after exhausting the only other avenue available. In 2002, House Bill 1029 was introduced to the state legislature to ban the use of gestation crates. Even though the majority of Floridians are opposed to these cruel devices, the House Agricultural Committee would not give the bill a hearing.

In North Carolina, there is no citizen initiative process. Because the Legislature there failed to halt the invasion of huge factory farms, the people had little recourse when hog factories caused environmental devastation, diminished property values, and subjected animals to grossly inhumane living conditions. The people of Florida don't want a repeat of that tragic circumstance.

Contact Floridians for Humane Farms to find out about volunteer opportunities in your area at: