Under the tremendous pressure of the ever-growing plant-based dairy substitute industry, Big Dairy has dreamed up another propaganda campaign to safeguard the future of dairy farming and the consumption of their products. The “Adopt A Cow Program,” offered through Discovery Dairy and designed to “bring the dairy farm to your classroom,” took off in August 2021 and targets some of the most vulnerable members of society – children.
A classroom can “adopt” a dairy calf and watch her grow up over the course of one year, while learning about all the fantastic (made up) benefits of dairy. The children also have the opportunity to get a Farm Field Trip grant. Needless to say, the children never get to see the horrific conditions the animals have to endure, how their adopted calf was torn from her mother, and how “spent” cows are brutally slaughtered. Read Free From Harm’s post about Dairy Facts for more information the industry doesn’t want you to know.
Lessons created by the dairy industry are incorporated into the classroom curriculum: “Classrooms will receive bi-monthly updates, including suggestions on components of the Discover Dairy curriculum that teachers can incorporate into their virtual or in-person lesson plans.”
“Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, New England Dairy, Dairy Farmers of Washington, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, and American Dairy Association of Michigan.” The program is national, with participating schools in all 50 states, and is completely free.
This begs the question, how can an industry be allowed to infiltrate classrooms to spread misinformation and propaganda about the alleged benefits of dairy, while getting free advertising out of it? It is common knowledge that The Board of Education and USDA are in bed with Big Dairy, but this is a particularly egregious breach of ethics.
Please help us tell the US Board of Education to stop allowing the dairy industry to spread lies in classrooms! Please send a letter to the US Secretary of Education here.
