FARM SANCTUARY: Q&A WITH FOUNDER, GENE BAUR
In episode 6 of “Saved By The Barn”, Gene Baur, founder of Farm Sanctuary visited Barn Sanctuary and brought Charlie, a blind goat needing a home.
Farm Sanctuary was the pioneer sanctuary, founded in 1986. They paved the way for many more farm sanctuaries to come, including Barn Sanctuary. Our own Founder, Dan McKernan, always shares how Gene Baur’s book, “Living the Farm Sanctuary Life”, was his inspiration for founding Barn Sanctuary! We talked to Gene Baur about veganism, advocacy, Farm Sanctuary, and what he likes to do for fun. To learn more about Farm Sanctuary, be sure to follow Gene & Farm Sanctuary on social media!
Gene Baur, Founder, Farm Sanctuary
Q: At what point in your life did you realize farm animals need our help, and when did you decide you wanted to be the one to help them?
A: Deciding to speak up for farm animals was an incremental and evolutionary process. When I grew up, debates about the Vietnam war and Civil Rights were in the air, and there was a nascent awareness about the environmental harms caused by human activities. In my childhood neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills near Griffith Park, I saw stately oak trees cut down so houses could be made bigger, and this was viscerally upsetting to me. I didn’t want to be a cog in a wheel of a system that was causing so much destruction, so in high school and college I started getting involved with activist organizations, which eventually led me to understand industrial animal agriculture to be one of the most harmful institutions on earth. I co-founded Farm Sanctuary to actively expose and combat factory farming, which most people unwittingly support factory farming. In the 1980s and still today, I believe we can each play a role in creating a kinder world by making more mindful and compassionate food choices.
Q: Since you went vegan and started your sanctuary in the 80’s, vegan foods and farm animal sanctuaries have come a long way. How does it feel seeing the growth in popularity?
A: It is heartening to see farm sanctuaries opening around the world, especially since the concept didn’t even exist until 1986. It’s also really encouraging to see a growing interest and accessibility of vegan food. Fundamentally, the most effective way to prevent farm animal suffering, and to preclude the need for farm animal rescues, is to reform our food system and to stop exploiting and slaughtering animals. Besides modeling compassionate relationships with farm animals, I believe farm sanctuaries can also model compassionate vegan living, including by growing food and helping to create a diverse, community-oriented plant-based food system.
www.farmsanctuary.org
Q: You were one of the first people to investigate stockyards and slaughterhouses. Seeing the way billions of animals are treated and people’s indifference can be tough. How do you deal with the downside of feeling empathy for animals?
A: I’ve spoken with people many times about the pain and trauma of witnessing and dealing with disturbing cruelties, and often cite the serenity prayer, which asks for: “the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” We are unable to control the vast majority of things, including the behaviors of others, so instead of dwelling on problems I can’t control, I try to focus on and dwell in the things I can do. And, I take heart for any positive steps I observe, no matter how small, since small steps can lead to big changes over time.
Q: You went vegan in the mid 80’s when there wasn’t a lot of information out there about what happens in factory farms, so being vegan wasn’t popular. What was it like for you when you made the decision to go vegan?
A: Being vegan is still a minority point of view, but there was far less information and barely any vegans in the mid-1980’s. Most people, including family and friends, didn’t really understand what it meant to be vegan. Thankfully, I knew a few other vegans, and we supported and validated each other’s lifestyle decisions. Over the years, I’m happy to say that my family and friends have developed a greater appreciation and respect for the motivation and reasoning that underpins being vegan.
Q: You do a lot of advocacy work trying to get better animal welfare laws in place. Which was your biggest victory?
A: It is hard to name one “biggest victory,” since different laws have passed at different times in differing contexts, and things are constantly evolving. Some important victories have come in court after laws we passed were challenged by agribusiness, including two groundbreaking laws in California – one that outlaws factory farming confinement in veal crates, gestation crates, and battery cages and the other that bans the production and sale of foie gras by force feeding birds. Some other notable victories include the first ever U.S. law to outlaw factory farm confinement, passed by a voter initiative in Florida in 2002, and the federal ban on slaughtering downed cows for human food, first adopted in 2004 and strengthened over the years. I’m also proud of Farm Sanctuary’s pioneering work to raise awareness about factory farming generally, as well as to influence businesses’ policies. In the 1990s, after a multi-year Farm Sanctuary campaign that began in Watkins Glen, NY, Burger King eventually started selling veggie burgers at their restaurants across the U.S.. Today, Burger King is selling a vegan whopper that more closely resembles what meat-eating consumers are used to, and many other restaurants and food retailers are marketing a growing array of vegan foods.
www.farmsanctuary.org
Q: When did you start Farm Sanctuary and what led to its founding?
A: Like everybody around me, I grew up acculturated to eat meat, dairy and eggs without thinking about it. My first introduction to the cruelty of animal agriculture was in high school when my grandmother told me that calves raised for veal were chained by their necks in crates for their entire lives, and I immediately decided to never eat veal. During college, I learned more about factory farming, and how we could feed more people with less land and fewer resources through plant-based agriculture, and I also learned that despite what I had been told, humans are not nutritionally obligated to eat animal products. I didn’t want to support this inhumane and destructive system, so I went vegan in 1985, and co-founded Farm Sanctuary the following year to expose and combat the abuses of factory farming and to promote compassionate vegan living.
Q: Farm Sanctuary has two locations, one in California and one in New York. Which did you open first and why did you choose these locations?
A: Between 1986 and 1989, Farm Sanctuary operated out of donated space in a row house in Wilmington, DE and on a tofu farm in Avondale, PA, where I lived in a school bus. We needed more land and also wanted Farm Sanctuary to own it, so I began searching real estate sections in farming publications. I noticed many affordable properties in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, which led us to purchase the Watkins Glen farm in 1989. It was advertised as a 175 acre farm with a 7 bedroom house, barns, tractors, and equipment, and the sale price was $110,000. We offered $95,000 and got it for $100,000. In addition to being affordable, the farm was located in a beautiful tourist area, which we felt could help attract visitors. Then, in the early 1990s, we received a donation of land in northern California, which is the nation’s largest agricultural state and also the most populous state. This expansion gave us a nationwide presence, and increased our ability to reach wider audiences and to have a greater impact. More recently, we acquired a farm just outside of Los Angeles, which allows us to further advance our cause by engaging with larger and broader audiences.
www.farmsanctuary.org
Q: What was the public’s initial reaction to the idea of a sanctuary for farm animals and how has it changed?
A: Farm Sanctuary was the first organization to focus on exposing factory farming and rescuing farm animals from slaughter, and like many new ideas, it wasn’t immediately embraced. The idea of seeing pigs, cows, chickens, turkeys and other farm animals as “friends not food” was a strange new concept in the 1980s. Thankfully, over the years, there has been increasing awareness about the problems with animal agriculture, and the benefits of plant-based eating. There is also a growing understanding about the sentience of nonhuman animals, including those who are exploited for food, and this is helping to bring about a rethinking of our relationships with them. I’m grateful to see growing mainstream acceptance about the idea of seeing farm animals as companions, not commodities, including with the Animal Planet show, “Saved by the Barn.”
Q: How many animals do you currently have at your sanctuaries?
A: The number of animals who live at Farm Sanctuary fluctuates with ongoing rescues and animal adoptions and placements, but we usually care for around one thousand animals between our New York and California shelters.
www.farmsanctuary.org
Q: What is your favorite part about having the sanctuaries and advocating for farm animals?
A: My favorite part about the sanctuaries is that they are places of healing, and they provide a counterbalance to the cruelty of factory farming. The sanctuaries grew out of our investigations of farms, stockyards, and slaughterhouses where we found animals abused and abandoned, sometimes in trash cans or on piles of dead animals. These rescues were a direct response that saved individuals’ lives and made it easier for us to cope with witnessing the ongoing abuses of factory farming. But, it’s not possible for sanctuaries to rescue the billions of animals who are being exploited for food, so we need to advocate for reforms in the food system. Ideally, I want to end factory farming and the need to rescue exploited animals in the first place. As difficult as it is to create needed systemic and structural reforms, I feel fortunate to work on issues I care deeply about. I am inspired when I see people and institutions take positive steps, and when laws and policies are adopted to incrementally reform our cruel and broken food system.
Q: I’m sure all of your advocacy work keeps you busy. Do you get to spend a lot of time at the sanctuaries? What do you like to do when you are there?
A: I don’t get to spend as much time at the sanctuaries as I’d like, but always love visiting, spending time with the animals and being in a serene environment away from traffic and noise. I like slowing down, appreciating nature, and breathing in the sense of peace that pervades the place. I often come to our sanctuaries during events, so I enjoy speaking with visitors and volunteers, including interns, who contribute their time and energy and are dedicated to our mission.
Q: Your positive attitude shines through in your books and in interviews. How do you stay focused and positive when faced with harsh skepticism?
A: Besides trying to dwell in positive things, and remembering the serenity prayer, I also remind myself that I can’t control others, and need to focus on my own thoughts and actions and how I react to circumstances. I believe that injured and traumatized people tend to hurt other people and animals, so I think our goal is ultimately to love and help others heal, and I try to follow the adage to, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”
Q: What is your favorite comfort food?
A: One of my favorite comfort foods is the scrambled tofu I make for Sunday brunch. I included the recipe in my book, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life.
www.amazon.com
Q: Being vegan has become your whole public identity. What is something unrelated to veganism that you enjoy or that people don’t know about you?
A: Being a vegan activist is like a spiritual practice for me, reflecting ideals I aspire to live by, and it permeates pretty much everything I do. I also enjoy sports, and grew up playing baseball and football, then becoming an avid ultimate Frisbee player. I’ve completed a number of marathons and triathlons, including an Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run), which I used to advocate for the benefits of plant-based nutrition. I love being in nature, and also learning about history and the patterns and contexts that surround the human condition. I studied sociology in college and got a masters degree in agricultural economics from Cornell University, and I’m interested in understanding systems of oppression and finding ways to transform our society, so we stop exploiting others and learn to live in mutually beneficial ways.
Thank you, Gene Baur, for taking the time to answer our questions! You have been an inspiration to so many people.
