DENVER — Several high profile Denver chefs have joined forces with a group who work closely with the Colorado livestock industry to oppose an anti-agriculture initiative that will go before Denver voters in November.
La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal Chef Jose Avila and II Posto Chef Andrea Frizzi are teaming up with president and CEO of the National Western Stock Show and Complex Paul Andrews, operations manager/employee owner of Superior Farms Isabel Bautista, president of the Colorado Livestock Association Kenny Rogers along with other Superior Farms employee/owners to oppose a citizen-initiated measure to ban meat processing facilities within the city limits of Denver.
The measure titled “Prohibition of Slaughterhouses” would outlaw “the construction, maintenance, or use of” any meat processing facilities in Denver beginning January 1, 2026, as well as “require the city to prioritize residents whose employment is affected by the ordinance in workforce training or employment assistance programs.”
Proponents of the measure say they are seeking an increase in consumption of plant-based protein sources, as well as pushing the claim that the livestock industry is a major contributor to climate change, though no explanation is provided as to how pushing existing meat processing outside of Denver city limits would reduce greenhouse gas emissions or lead to more vegetarian diets.
Although the ban technically targets any facility that processes meat defined as “livestock” under Colorado law, including beef, lamb, poultry and pork, it would in practice impact just one business, the more than 70-year-old Superior Farms, one of the largest lamb processing facilities in the United States. It has been in operation in Denver since the 1950s. They not only ship their product out of state but to almost every grocery store and restaurant in Colorado that sells lamb.
Complete Colorado was the first to break the story on the initiative earlier this year.
Processing facilities are “nuisances upon the neighborhoods in which they operate, due to the foul odors which they produce, their unsightly industrial facades, and the disagreeable nature of their operations,” the ordinance reads in part, claiming employment in processing facilities is associated with “mental illness and addiction” due to “unique psychological harms” experienced by workers.
Roger Sherman, a partner in CRL Associates, a Denver-based government and public affairs marketing firm previously told Complete Colorado that Superior Farms provides over 170 employee-owners good wages and benefits, and that its closure would be devastating.
“It will cost taxpayers an estimated $70 million to compensate Superior Farms for forcing the business to close,” said Sherman. “That’s money the city could use for more important issues. It’s the wrong approach.”
A press release sent out by the opposition group earlier this week outlined more of the damage they say this ordinance would create, including:
- 160 workers at Denver’s only slaughterhouse will lose their jobs and benefits. A ban could also threaten more than 2,700 jobs including independent ranchers, truckers, distributors, retailers, butchers, and restaurant owners and employees, according to a Colorado State University study.
- Banning a single Denver business won’t make things better.
- The additional cost of shipping in meat from out of state due to a local production ban will be passed on to consumers, increasing food prices.
- Denverites will continue eating meat even if local production is banned, which means shipping more of Denver’s food supply from further away – increasing carbon emissions and making our food supply chain less sustainable.
According to the Denver election website, issue committees have been formed both for and against the measure. Pro Animal Denver, has raised just under $230,000 from just two contributors: Pro-Animal Future ($218,000), a Colorado-based organization with the mission to “end animal farming in Colorado” and Owen Gunden ($11,500), a New York-based philanthropist who “aims to make the world a kinder place for non-humans,” according to his bio on the Woodstock Fruit Festival website.
The opposition committee, “Stop the Ban, Protect Jobs” has raised $740,000 from an array of donors including Superior Farms ($160,000), the American Sheep Industry Association ($80,000), the National Pork Producers Council ($50,000), the National Cattleman’s Beef Association ($40,000), Visit Denver ($25,000), the Colorado Livestock Association ($25,000), United Food & Commercial Workers International ($25,000), Concience Bay Research, LLC ($25,000), Political Action Trust( $25,000), and the Colorado Livestock Association ($25,000).
Complete Colorado will continue to follow the story.
