The Governor of New York State in the US recently announced plans to allow the Coca-Cola Company to build a $650 million Fairlife production facility in Monroe County, New York. Fairlife is wholly owned by Coca-Cola and produces dairy milk, protein shakes, and meal replacement shakes.
Cows have long been the victims of horrific treatment on large-scale dairy farms, but despite the growing demand for plant-based alternatives, the state of New York is planning to allow the construction of a new dairy production facility which could become the largest dairy processing plant in the Northeast of the US.
In 2019, an undercover investigation conducted by activists allegedly exposed footage of animal abuse at Fair Oaks Farm in Indiana, which supplied milk to Fairlife at the time of filming. The disturbing footage included multiple men pushing, punching, throwing, and dragging calves, and beating them when they wouldn’t drink. According to the investigators, one calf’s head was stomped on, and animals were left to suffer in 100-plus-degree heat.
Later that year, a class action lawsuit was brought against Fairlife, and in 2022, Fairlife, the Coca-Cola Company, Fair Oaks Farm, and other defendants reached a $21 million settlement to resolve lawsuit claims alleging that it lied to consumers about mistreating cows.
Now, Fairlife is planning a new facility in New York, but animal protection campaigners are protesting about it, asking New York’s decision-makers to cancel the plans. If you want to help, there is a petition addressed to Governor Hochul you can sign.
Cows and bulls are sensitive animals who should never have been domesticated and farmed by people in the first place. There is nothing good coming from farming cows as it causes widespread and serious suffering to millions of sentient beings. And you will find this suffering in all types of farms, no matter the size, be small non-commercial traditional farms, middle-size regenerative organic “high welfare” ranches, or huge indoor factory farms as the one planned in New York.
