A major threat to Colorado’s $5 billion livestock sector in 2021 prompted the Colorado Farm Bureau to join forces with other state livestock groups to establish a campaign committee called Coloradans for Animal Care.
A Colorado Supreme Court ruling in a case brought by the coalition ultimately kept Initiative 16 off the ballot, but Coloradans for Animal Care’s effective early outreach positioned the industry well for addressing further threats. Initiative 16 was a potential 2022 ballot measure that would have criminalized commonly accepted veterinary and animal care practices in Colorado.
One of the coalition’s strongest outreach tools was social media. Using paid advertisements targeted to specific audiences and regions, Coloradans for Animal Care reached 56,542 individual users on Facebook and Instagram. Along with their paid advertisements, Coloradans for Animal Care spurred the creation of several supportive Facebook groups the coalition can continue to tap into for future campaigns. The groups are composed of mostly “ag-adjacent” voters – those with indirect ties to agriculture and those with an affinity for farming and ranching. The largest of these Facebook groups has more than 22,000 members.
In addition, to continue engagement with key audiences and remind them that while Initiative 16 was off the ballot for 2022, the threat remains, direct mail pieces were sent to voters after the Supreme Court struck the initiative.
“It’s great to have such strong support for agriculture producers in the face of such a radical initiative,” said Shawn Martini, VP of Advocacy for CFB. “It goes to show that the industry can move public opinion when we have to. And that proper campaign strategy can translate the good will the public has for farmers and ranchers into action and votes.”
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