THE HUMANE HUMAN PROJECT: A CASE FOR SUPPORT AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATFORM

In a world where intensive farming methods have become standard practice and the source from which most marketed animal products are derived, there is limited transparency around farming practices and welfare standards. Consumers lack exposure to and awareness of the implications their purchasing decisions have on farm animal welfare. Because of the focus on driving profits and market share, large industrial farms and the corporations that own and run them would prefer to keep it this way. The Humane Human Project was developed, while I was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and became more aware of the issues that face consumers who want to make more human purchases, farmers who want to implement higher welfare farming practices, and the billions of animals impacted by intensive farming. Humane Human will address these issues by providing consumers with transparent, unbiased information across all species of food animals. It will identify how to source humanely bred, raised, handled, and harvested animal products all in one place. And ultimately it will create a marketplace where these items can be bought and sold. Structured as a non-profit, foundation, focused solely on animal products sourced from high-welfare purveyors and producers, Humane Human will bring motivated consumers and producers together and drive increased demand for high-welfare animal products.