Certified Humane & Safe

Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here.

And wow, what a true honor to be surrounded by so many innovative minds, inspiring stories and brilliant people in general. Adel deeply regrets not being able to come here today, but she helps me put together this presentation on certified, humane and safe. And so hopefully I'll do a good job representing her and the organization and informing you a little bit more about what we do at Certified Humane. So before I get started a little bit about me so that you all know who you're listening to. So I received my Bachelors of Science in animal science at Virginia Tech, where I did poultry production as a concentration. I also worked in a swine laboratory there as well. From there, I went to the University of Edinburgh and risk Gotland, where I got my masters in applied animal behavior and animal welfare. And the course was really involved in looking at production systems and how the way that we farm has an effect on an animal's behavior and welfare. From there, I became an office. I had an office role at Humane Farm Animal Care and moved to being a consultant and a full time inspector for Certified Humane. I am also a member of the scientific committee and I'm trained in all the species. Most recently, beef cattle. Most importantly, I'm passionate about the certified humane program and what it stands for and what we do. So a little background on Humane Farm Animal Care. It is the nonprofit certification and labeling organization behind the Certified Humane Label. It was founded in 2003 by Adele Douglass, and she was a veteran lobbyist and former congressional staff member who knew the limitations of the legislative process and grew frustrated with it. And she thought that the solution to making changes in the farming world and the humane farming world would be to go through the consumer's pocket. So her wallet. So voting with your wallet. That was when she she founded Certified Humane and Humane Farm Animal Care. So we at Humane Farm Animal Care work with consumers to vote with their wallets for more humane production in farm animals. Humane Farm Animal Care is the leading international nonprofit certification organization and improving the lives of animals from birth to slaughter.

So the way that an animal is raised has an effect on its well-being. And that has an effect on consumers and the environment as well. So that's what we're going to talk about when we talk about certified, humane and safe.

Currently, animals are raised in abhorrent conditions where they are confined in high