Persistent challenges. Those two words basically sum up what renderers are currently facing.
Just a few of those persistent challenges include: possible additional government regulations on rendered products; the competition’s persistence in keeping animal fats and yellow grease out of biodiesel legislation; and local developers who just want to make some money building homes, even if they are too close to a rendering plant.
It can’t be said enough that this is a new age for renderers. As tough as it may be at times, renderers need to take the initiative and be proactive when challenges persist.
Speak out…to regulators, community leaders, local media, whoever will listen. Educate the uneducated on the valuable service renderers provide and the ecological challenges that would surely ensue if the waste products renderers recycle were allowed to be disposed of in other ways.
The rendering industry is still so misunderstood. As persistent as the challenges are, so must be the message. Persistent education is the only way those who know little about the industry will become informed.
On another challenging front, California dairy farmers are coming under attack from the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for a series of advertisements depicting the state’s cows as “happy.” The humorous ads, which feature cows that talk and sing while roaming on flower-laden green hillsides, have a tagline that reads, “Great cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California.”
PETA’s complaint says that consumers are being misled “into buying a product that they otherwise would not have bought.” The group states that California’s cows lead anything but easy, happy lives.
Not taking the accusation lightly, the California Milk Advisory Board, which sponsors the ads, is speaking out against the claim, as are some of the state’s dairymen.
They say cows today have it much better than cows in the old days that roamed the range, even being provided comfort stalls. Besides, they add, it’s also bad for business if dairymen allow their animals to live in filth.
Insisting that cows are treated well during their lives, one dairyman even plugged the value of cows once the animal is no longer around.
“Afterwards, they continue to make people’s existence better because they are used to make other products people need.”
That should make us all happy.
June 2002 Render