Dayna Ghirardelli, director of the farm bureau, speaks against Measure J at a meeting in Sonoma. [Photo courtesy Sonoma County Farm Bureau]
The “No on Measure J” campaign accepted donations through a political action committee called the Sonoma County Family Farmers Alliance PAC, No on Measure J, sponsored by the Sonoma County Farm Bureau. Campaign disclosure statements from the PAC showed large donations included $103,000 from Clover Sonoma, $50,000 from CoBank, a Colorado-based national cooperative bank that serves agribusinesses across rural parts of the U.S., $49,999 from the National Pork Producers Council, $25,000 from the Iowa Pork Producers Association, $20,000 from Sunrise Farms LLC, a Petaluma-based egg producer, $20,000 from Rock Island Refrigerated Distributors, a Petaluma-based natural foods distributor, $15,000 from the U.S. Agriculture Partnership Fund, a Kansas-based nonprofit that supports public education and resources to benefit consumers and agriculture, $10,000 from Straus Family Creamery and $10,000 from the California Grain & Feed Association PAC, a Sacramento-based trade association. Campaign disclosure statements from the “Yes on Measure J” campaign showed large donations included $45,000 from Karuna Foundation, a Colorado-based nonprofit that supports the well-being of animals, $25,000 from Humane America Animal Foundation, a Claremont-based nonprofit that advocates for animal welfare and over $8,000 in goods, services and monetary donations from Direct Action Everywhere. Direct Action Everywhere also assisted with legal and travel assistance, as well as texting to inform supporters of Measure J about one or more marches. Each side had numerous small donors who gave anywhere from a few dollars to over $5,000. These included a wide range of Sonoma County dairy owners on the “No” side and individuals throughout the Bay Area on the “Yes” side. King estimates the PAC outspent the “Yes on Measure J” campaign 8-to-1. Notes on each organization’s spending indicate the “No on Measure J” campaign spent funds on legal services,
public relations services and advertisements through social media platforms such as Meta/Facebook. The “Yes on Measure J” campaign spent some of its funds on gas cards and Airbnb fees to house volunteers. The differences in amounts and spending patterns reveal farmers were working with agriculture industry partners who would be negatively affected by the passage of Measure J. Activists were working with animal welfare-oriented nonprofits and associations to share the importance of the measure across the Bay Area and beyond. The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) in Cotati, which files lawsuits to protect animals from harm, was not a direct sponsor of Measure J. “[Yet] we actively work and support efforts to protect animals on factory farms and better enforcement of those laws,” says Chris Green, executive director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. A review of news and social media coverage Sonoma Media Investments, which owns the Santa Rosa Press Democrat , the North Bay Business Journal and the Sonoma Index-Tribune , among other publications, extensively covered Measure J and concerns related to it. The coverage often contained perspectives from supporters and opponents of Measure J. This magazine, NorthBay biz , dedicated a cover story to Measure J [“Holy Cow!,” July 2024] with comments from both local supporters and opponents, as well as neutral observers from the University of California’s environmental and dairy departments. Other Bay Area outlets also provided coverage that shared views from both sides. For example, FOX KTVU 2, the Fox network outlet for the San Francisco Bay Area that is licensed in Oakland, ran an October story on Measure J that contained statements from Mike Weber, co-owner of Weber Family Farms in Petaluma, Ghirardelli of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau and Kristina
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