i'm "ali velshi on target". blowing the whistle. a small town farmer taking on a big agro giant in an animal welfare war crusaders or criminals - the push to silence those threatening to expose where our food comes from americans are eating more meat paying less for it than at any other time in u.s. history. at what cost? animals raised in barns of the 1950s have given way to an industrial revolution of sorts.

a report on industrial farm animal production in america found the change happened largely out of the view of consumers. now, the pugh report came to a disturbing conclusion saying the present system of producing food animals in the united states is not sustainable, presenting an unacceptable level of risk to public health and damage to the environment, as well as unnecessary harm to the animals that we race for food. >> the agriculture gag law, referred to as ag gag laws centers around how to handle individuals and organizations documenting bad practices on farms without the consent of the farmer. animal rights activists want the laws to focus on abuses rather than on how the evidence is gathered. laws skyped to make it tougher -- designed to make it tougher on meat industry

growers. monday a law passed to criminally charge people who misrepresent each other when plying for a job at a farm. making it punishable by law to go under cover and document abuse. north carolina's governor has 10 days to sign or veto the bill. north carolina is home to one factory farmer who opened his barn doors to the most unlikely of allies in hopes of changing the industry. craig watts thought consumers were being hoodwinked by those wage free labels that resonate with consumers when they buy a chicken. we have a report from a farmer that blue the whistle. >> game free for those that read label. it would seem to mean chickens with room to roam. hope chicken, humanely waged. >> cage free they call it you

can't get a cage in here. >> reporter: we were asked to but biosuits on. these were delivered as chicks. 36 das later, look at their size. >> they are at the shape now where it's three steps and flop. boom, boom boom. that's what they do. that's what they are bred to do. >> reporter: when you started 20 years ago, were the birds bred to grow this large, this fast? >> no. it's been a steady progression. >> reporter: the birds breastses are so heavy they can barely lift them. >> you can feel how hot it is on the floor. >> put your and under the wing how hot. >> that is smoking. >> that is really hot. >> craig comes from a long line of north carolina farmers. >> we just came from a farming family. i mean my daddy, grand dad, his

dad and his dad. >> no one set rules requiring them to farm this way. for more than 20 years, he has been raising chickens for perdue under precise guidelines set by the company, guidelines he says do not create an environment like the one shown in this commercial featuring jim perdue. >> doing the right thing is treating chickens humanely raising them gauge free. >> birds in that commercial are this size this age. they have half on acre and the litter is brand new pine shavings, the equipment is spotless and the feed is perfect pellet. i'm thinking "uh-ho", and as far as marketing that was like okay, this is too far. >> a call to action to reform

the industry setting him on a collision course with perdue. a risky move given the leverage they have over contract farmers who pay for the chicken houses and upgrades. >> your delivery is dead to keep the houses paid for. they got you. it goes back to the share cropper days or the coal miner company store thing. >> reporter: is that your choice to have no window? >> absolutely not. frequent any named a top producer, he took his concerns to the company. >> they'd come meet get up and never any follow up. not once. >> reporter: he went public writing letters and testifying about poultry farming conditions. on capitol hill. when they came to nothing, watts did something no one saw coming. he opened the bar door to an

animal welfare advocate and her camera. >> this is the first time i've within invited by a contract farmer. >> reporter: the result a video with more than 1.8 million hits on youtube, producing a partnership between a factory farmer and animal rights. >> it's changed our strategy partnering with farmers who run the farms is the way forward. opening up the door from the inside is the way to change systems that have gone amok. >> reporter: this is about as unlikely pairing that you get. >> yes, for sure. we are definitely not welcomed by the industry. >> an alliance that ruffled purdue's fe days of the video posting, watts heard from purdue, a surprise inspection, and they released this statement

claiming watts was not following company guidelines or providing appropriate animal care. >> that was just the beginning. watts said they amped up inspections. producing reports different to this. he showed this one noting that he was off to a great start, and that the birds are living very well. this report dated after the video was released is filled with infractions. you can clearly see everything prior to the release great starts. birds living well. keep up the good work and after the video release, there's nothing right. >> reporter: then the bombshell, purdue notified watts he'd have to attend a training course and undergo twice weekly inspections when chickens are present as part of a performance improvement plan for poultry

welfare and security. the relentless inspections made him determined so determined he took another unprecedented step and slapped purdue with a whistleblower lawsuit. filed, the clapt alleges pur dude -- client alleges purdue that they retaliated against watts after the video was posted. we asked purdue for their side of the story. they refused. they did alleges in response to the video that: watts is not looking for a big pay out. just expenses and lost earnings for retraining that perdue forced him to complete and legal costs.

he says it's because the potential payoff will be bigger than money much. >> the whistle whoer, if it's favourable will give a farmer somewhere to go. he won't have to worry about not saying anything. we need an outlet. we don't have that now, we have nothing. we need something for the government to protect us. >> patricia joins us now. where is this. where is perdue in this discussion? >> well perdue filed a response. right now, this is active. >> what does craig get for going public and why would anyone else that's a contract farmer do this? >> as craig explains it a lot of farmers basically have their hands tide because they are so liver imed to the hilt on -- leveraged to the hilt on chicken houses. they have to pay for that and upgrades. keep in mind that a lot of

poultry farmers have spare capacity, so they could drop a farm if they needed to. this is how craig explains it. >> to be clear, the conditions you saw on the farm craig alleges is to the letter of what perdue describes, they decide what the farms will be right. >> exactly. they set the standard under which the chickens were raised. for example, when they dropped off the flock. in the house i was in that was staffed with 28,500 chicks. there's no windows in the houses. that's because purdue according to the contract requires solid walls. what about the ag gag laws we'll talk about that. would these types of laws preventing whistleblowers or people going into the farms and talking about what they see, would that prevent someone like craig going public. >> this is interesting. craig as a contract farmer he's not an employee but in his whistleblower lawsuit he's

claiming protection, one thing that the company is saying that he can't claim protection. this is a distinction that is a political hot potato in many industries. in terms of who it could affect - the ag gag law in north carolina now that is working its way, on the governor's desk basically that - opponents are saying that what it would do is financially ruin whistleblowers because it would enable employers to sue them and, in fact proponents say it's protecting private property rights and ensuring and giving employers league at recourse. we'll hear from a proponent of one of those laws. >> next i talk to a woman and says whistleblowers like craig in in story are the villains.

>> my name is imran garda the show is called third rail, when you watch this show you're gonna find us being un-afraid. the topics will fascinate you, intrigue you...

>> they take this seriously... >> let me quote you... >> there's a double standard... >>...could be a hypocrite >> you're also gonna get a show that's really fair bold... never predictable... >> the should be worried about heart disease, not terrorism... >> i wouldn't say that at all... >> you'll see a show that has an impact on the conventional wisdom that goes where nobody else goes... >> my name is imran garda i am the host of third rail and you can find it on al jazeera america craig watts, you remember is the north carolinan chicken farmer that filed a whistleblower lawsuit against perdue saying the giant retaliated against him after he went public about conditions on his farm. many are activists who go

undercover to work on farms and shoot videos like the one i'm about to show you. fair warning is due. these videos are not easy to watch. this undercover video was shot last year on a dairy farm in new mexico, showing farmhands whipping and beating cows with wire cables and barbed wire. it led to an investigation, and the dairy farm shut down. a new mexico law-maker introduced a bill forcing acts visit groups to hand videos over to authorities within 24 hours of filming. the bill languished in part because the new mexico's attorney's office fears it could infringe on free speech rights. 17 states rejected the bill which could be called agriculture gag laws. ag gag.

others call them farm privacy bills. the eight states in orange was passed the ag gag build, including north carolina. the debate over ag gag bills boils down to a battle over freedom of speech versus the privacy rights of farmers. k johnson smith thinks they are a good thing, and she is the president and c.e.o. of the animal agriculture alliance an industry group advocating for animal farmers. the way i see it activists are reporting real abuses in an industry we know is not all that transparent. instead of charges against farmers, the bill is making it possible for charges against whistle blowers. what is wrong with my analysis of that? >> a lot of things i'm sorry to say. let me first say that our organization does not lobby, so we are not involved in

supporting legislative initiatives such as the farm protection bills. however, i understand the need for them and the reasons legislators across the country have been introducing these bills are because animal rights activists are fraudulent i representing themselves when seeking employment on farm and they are paid by animal rights organizations to represent their interests, and paid by a farmer to do a job on the farm. who will the loyalties lie with? the animal rights organizations. the bills are meant to protect the interests of the agricultural stakeholders in the states. farms and ranchers are targeted by the undercover groups for a lot of reasons.

one, the videos share a story. you see three minutes of a scrip, and activists never release the entire video. you mentioned family barns, ut talk about 9 or 10 raised for food. some operations have a million economicens. -- chickens. you see 3 minutes of a 30 minute video, but it's cows whipped with chains and wires, it's relevant. >> well i'll say that we absolutely do not condone animal abuse. there are bad apples in the industry? sure. >> does it mean farmers own the animals. >> of course not.

there are 2 million family farms or 2 million farms across the u.s. less than 2% of our population feeds the rest of the nation. naturals are large, different, and a lot of that is driven by the market. you had to scale up in size in order to be profitable. farms are businesses so they should have the opportunity to be profitable. when you talk about the large farms, it's important to recognise that every one of the large farms today - they started as small family farm. may conversation with kay john on smith conditions in two minutes -- johnson smith continues in two minutes.

>> i've been asked to keep my voice down cause we are so close to the isil position >> who is in charge, and are they going to be held to accout? >> but know we're following the research team into the fire >> they're learning how to practice democracy... >> ...just seen tear gas being thrown... >> ...glad sombody care about us man... >> several human workers

were kidnapped... >> this is what's left of the hospital >> is a crime that's under reported... >> what do you think... >> we're making history right now... >> al jazeera america i want to continue my conversation on cruelty to animals on farms. kate johnson smith is the president and c.e.o. of the animal agricultural alliance a group advocating for animal farmers. let's look at a whistleblower videos. i want to warn viewers, these are upsetting to watch. take a look. you are seeing - this was released to north carolina local media this month from a poultry form showing dying chickens tossed into a pile with dead chickens live animals treated like trash.

it's possible. i'm showing viewers 45 seconds of video a lot more was obviously shown, but there's no - this doesn't seem to be an absence of context here. >> well i can't see the video you showed. like i said some of the videos showed practices that are not condoned by the industry. they certainly don't meet the standards set forth by the industry. the problem that we have is the groups that are hiring these individuals to gain employment on farms often are contributing to the problem, and they are failing to report any sorts of concerns or abuse to the openers of the farms, or to local police authorities, and every state has animal cruelty laws. the videos are held for weeks, months or a year before released, and they are released to a public or a press conference or social media. they are not - they are not going through the proper

authorities or channels to report concerns. if you or i saw abuse taking place, i know what you or i would do - we'd report it immediately. and i would no longer work there. >> it's not just activists, anal right activists. in north carolina the association of prosecuting attorneys, teamsters, a.c.l.u. - not necessarily radical groups. >> well you know the term ag gag has really i think, misleading us to what this really does. these, again, are individuals with an agenda. the agenda is to create a vegan society. no matter how good the farms are. think about the millions of farms, or thousands of farms that have been visited by and worked on by the undercover activists. they don't show you the positives. let me ask you. i'm not sure craig watts, third or fourth generation, i'm not

sure that he's looking to create a bigger society. i think they are big meat aters, actually. >> i don't know mr watt but i read the independent third party report that reviewed the video he showed and - by the way, the animal rights organization, compassion and world farming that he partnered with is using to fupd raise, go to the -- fund raise, go to the website and they are using it for a fundraising tool. that is in line with how undercover videos are used. they are used with a big donate now. but i will say the third party independent review report by the center for food integrity, independent group, and the panel included animal welfare specialist, and you see what was shown in the video was out of video standards.

watt was shown, was not in keeping with how they should. >> he wrote and asked them for these things and showed them the conditions were the same and purdue was applauding them for that. after the video. potentially that's his version of the story. >> here is where we are getting into a pickle. i hear you. people can be unfair is every time we see a video of cruelty on the farm, and it's not possibly the farmer or industry's fault. if there are abuses on farms that are shown on the video, work with the farm to take corrective action. instead the groups are using them for fundraising and drive p.r. and political agendas. they are used to intimidate

companies and farms and they lose their business contract with food companies as a result of videos they are individuals involved, never bringing the charges to the farm owner, and our organization tracked every one of those videos every incident video that has taken place, the individual who was video taping leaves employment, weeks or months before the video comes outment they are not around to be a part of the investigation by the animal cruelty authority this that state or by the farms. they have long gone changed their name and are working in some other part of the country, they are unavailable to help with the investigation. >> i guess this is the beauty of videos in 2015 and whatever people release them to do it shows you something that is happening. so in the end, if you are

throwing half dead chickens into a pile of dead chickens and beating cows everything you say, i hear you, but in the end someone is doing something bad and someone is trying to change the agenda the agenda of animal rights activists, whether they are trying to create a vegan society or don't want people to be crueled or want the public to understand, they are looking to change, you are right they have an agenda maybe it's not a bad agenda. >> the problem is again, having monitored every one of these videos, they are all edited spliced together. >> it doesn't matter. we can show the video, the cow video, doesn't matter if it's edited. whether it's 3 minutes of beating cows or tossing them around out of 30 minutes of them petting or massaging the cow, it doesn't matter. the stuff we see is outrageous. >> again, we do not condone

abuse. those actions should be stopped immediately. >> does not the fact that someone is video taping that it happened help you and others say "this can't go on?" >> if a video has been taped and six months have gone by and there were problems that were captured. doesn't you think they should have been stopped sooner 30 minutes later, not 30 days or 30 weeks later. >> yes it's a point about the vags and how they are conducted, there doesn't appear to be a standard. i take your point. if animals are abused we should know about this as soon as possible. thank you for joining me for the conversation. >> kate johnson submitted president of animal cultural alliance. that is our show i'm ali velshi, thank you for joining us.

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