The Animal Agriculture Alliance is providing farmers, ranchers and policymakers with a closer look at the organizations working to challenge modern animal agriculture.

Updated Alliance research shows animal-rights groups highlighted in its network now collectively generate more than $1.07 billion annually, with increasingly coordinated activity focused on legislation, retailers, restaurants and livestock production practices.

The Alliance is also tracking activity beyond the policy arena. Its updated Radical Vegan Activism report documented 41 incidents of vandalism, 36 cases of animal theft or release and 23 trespassing incidents during 2025, with nearly one in four extremist attacks targeting farmers and food workers.

The findings reinforce the Alliance's work to help the animal agriculture community understand activist organizations, prepare for potential threats and protect the people and businesses responsible for producing food.

Read the full article HERE

Believer Meats' now-defunct plant in Wilson, N.C. The cultivated meat processor went out of business in December 2025.

Nearly nine months after the collapse of Believer Meats, its state-of-the-art, $150-million cultivated meat facility in North Carolina remains vacant and unused.

The 200,000-square-foot facility in Wilson County, N.C., received USDA approval in November 2025 to manufacture cultivated chicken products, and Believer stated the facility’s capacity could reach 26 million pounds annually. However, Believer’s debts caught up to it, and the company ceased operation a mere month later.

Now, according to a report from AFN, fellow cultivated meat company UPSIDE Foods has withdrawn a $50-million bid to take over the facility. UPSIDE submitted the bid in June, and it was approved as a baseline “stalking horse” bid while other bids were considered. However, the offer is now withdrawn, and an Aug. 17 court filing acknowledged that “no qualifying bids were received for the transferred assets by the final bid deadline.”

“Unfortunately, the conditions of the transaction were not met, so we have exercised our termination right,” UPSIDE stated to AFN. “UPSIDE remains interested in the facility and will evaluate next steps once the receiver outlines a new process and timeline.”

A Profession at the Intersection of Technology, The Outdoors, and Nearly Everything We Build

Ask a group of young people what they want to be when they grow up, and you're likely to hear the usual answers: engineer, teacher, nurse, veterinarian, software developer, architect. You probably won’t hear many say, “Land surveyor.”

And that's a problem.

Land surveying is one of those professions most people don't think about until they need one. Yet surveying touches nearly every project involving land, including real estate transactions, land use planning, engineering, construction, development, roads and infrastructure, utilities, agriculture, natural resources, and energy. Surveyors have a hand in every one of these projects.

Before many of these projects can move forward, someone has to establish where things are and where they aren't. That someone is a surveyor. Today, surveying needs a new generation of professionals.

An Essential Profession Facing an Uncertain Future

The surveying profession is facing a workforce challenge that has been building for years. As experienced surveyors approach retirement, fewer young professionals are entering the field to replace them.

NEW WORLD SCREWWORM - UPDATING AS INFORMATION IS RELEASED

• FDA Issues Emergency Use Authorization for Drug to Treat New World Screwworm in Dogs and Puppies HERE
• Secretary Rollins Visits Douglas Port of Entry, Announces $25 Million Commitment for New Arizona Sterile Fly Dispersal Facility HERE

• USDA Announces $25 Million Investment in Arizona Sterile Fly Facility HERE

• USDA Announces Phased Reopening of Southern Ports for Livestock Trade HERE
• FDA Issues Emergency Use Authorization for Drug for Short-Term Prevention of New World Screwworm in Horses HERE
• USDA Invests in Projects to Strengthen New World Screwworm Preparedness and Response HERE
• NWS confirmed Detections HERE
• June 11, 2026: FDA Issues Emergency Use Authorization for Generic Over-the-Counter Drug to Treat New World Screwworm in Dogs and Cats HERE
• June 10, 2026: USDA Continues to Lead Coordinated Response to New World Screwworm; New Case Confirmed in La Salle County, Texas HERE
• June 08, 2026: USDA Confirms First Case of New World Screwworm in a Dog in Lea County, New Mexico, Fourth Case in Texas HERE
• June 04, 2026: Stop NWS: Unified Government Response HERE

• June 04, 2026: New World Screwworm HERE

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A Washington farmer says his attempt to build a home and maintain roads on his own nearly 5,000-acre property has turned into a costly battle over government power, private property, and free speech. According to the AgWeb article, Joel Gross was told that building on land classified within the Washington Shrubsteppe Restoration and Resiliency Initiative would require him to set aside at least two acres under deed restriction for every acre impacted by his home, driveway, and solar panels, or potentially pay mitigation fees. Gross argues that the requirement effectively forces landowners to surrender control of privately owned, tax-paying property simply to use their own land.

The dispute became even more troubling after Gross publicly criticized the regulations. He alleges that county officials subsequently reversed their earlier position regarding rock he planned to crush for use exclusively on his farm and began treating the activity as an industrial surface-mining operation. According to Gross, the new classification could subject him to a conditional-use permit, environmental review, a multiyear approval process, and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs. The timing has led Gross to allege retaliation for exercising his First Amendment rights. Grant County told AgWeb it was reviewing his concerns and declined an interview while an investigation was ongoing, so the retaliation allegation remains disputed rather than established fact.

As a co-founder of Climate Reform, Rutinel described a strategy to reduce the carbon intensity of institutional food purchasing by encouraging schools, hospitals, and other organizations to replace carbon-intensive foods with more plant-based options and generating carbon credits from those changes.

While a Yale Law School student, Manny Rutinel testified in support of legislation promoting “climate friendly food procurement,” arguing that meeting climate goals would require a substantial transition away from animal agriculture and toward plant-based foods.

During the 2024 Animal Legal Defense Fund Student Convention Interviews, Rutinel describes his evolution within the animal-rights movement and explains how activists can use political office, legislation, and influential institutions to advance animal-rights priorities.

While attending Yale Law School, Rutinel describes his involvement in the Law, Ethics, and Animals Program and Animal Law Society, emphasizing his goal of advancing animal law and making it a prominent part of the legal landscape.