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Protect the Harvest
Formation2011
FounderForrest Lucas
HeadquartersBrownsburg, Indiana
Key people
  • Forrest Lucas(Founder & Board Chairman)
  • Dale Ludwig(Board President)
  • Theresa Lucas McMahan(Board Secretary & Executive Director)
  • Jim Haworth(Board Treasurer)
  • Mike Siemens, Ph.D.(Director)
Websitehttps://protecttheharvest.com/

Protect the Harvest is an American 501(c)(4) non-profit advocacy organization founded by Forrest Lucas which opposes "the radical animal rights movement" and particularly the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which it calls "a wealthy and successful attack group".[1] It also collaborated to the production of two films that were generally panned by critics. The organization has an allied political action committee (PAC), the Protect the Harvest PAC, which funds campaigns to assist or defeat candidates for political office.[1]

Overview

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The organization's founder and executive director is Lucas Oil owner, Forrest Lucas. Lucas has invested over $600,000 in the organization.[2] Brian Klippenstein was the executive director of the organization and treasurer of the associated PAC,[1] before joining the U.S. Department of Agriculture as an advisor to Secretary Sonny Perdue, who was in the position from 2017 to 2021.[3][4][5]

History

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Protect the Harvest was founded in 2011 by Forrest Lucas.[6][1] Protect the Harvest is a supporter of right-to-farm laws as proposed by the American Legislative Exchange Council.[1] In 2010, Lucas put money into the campaign to defeat Proposition B, designed to prevent cruelty to dogs in puppy mills,[7][4] in Missouri, which was lost.[8][5] Repoerts indicated that Lucas supported efforts from the Missouri legislature that would weaken and repeal voter-approved measures, even though those measures did not have enough time to take into effect.[4]

In 2014, Lucas invested in the winning campaign to pass Measure 1 in Missouri, which amended the state Constitution to protect "the right of Missouri citizens to engage in agricultural production and ranching practices".[9][8] Lucas contributed almost $200,000 to oppose Question 3, a Massachusetts ballot initiative banning the sale of products from animals raised in "extreme" confinement, which passed with strong support in 2016; Protect the Harvest also underwrote a failed legal challenge to the measure.[10][11]

On February 5, 2017, Lucas and the Trump administration purged thousands of pages from the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act from the USDA-APHIS website.[12] This act does impact the USDA-APHIS website and how people can monitor the progress in which the law is enforced and how the federal animal protection laws are also being enforced.[12][13] On November 16, 2022, Protect the Harvest's founder, Forrest Lucas, was awarded by the American Agri-Women with the 2022 Veritas Award.[6] In September 2023, Mike Siemens was named the executive director and Theresa Lucas McMahan was named the chief administrative officer for Protect the Harvest.[14][15]

Funding

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Between October 2011 and December 2012, Protect the Harvest raised approximately $927,000. In 2012, according to FEC records, Lucas Oil contributed $200,000 to Protect the Harvest to fund advertisements against Christie Vilsack, who challenged and lost to incumbent Iowa congressman Steve King. Protect the Harvest also received funds from American Action Network, a group led by former senator Norm Coleman, and a group called Missouri Farmers Care.[1] The Protect the Harvest PAC spent $256,018 in the 2014 election cycle, and $116,300 in the 2016 cycle.[16]

Films

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The Dog Lover

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Protect the Harvest collaborated with ESX Entertainment to produce the 2016 movie The Dog Lover.[17] The film depicts an idealistic college student sent undercover by an animal welfare organization to investigate a puppy mill, and eventually becoming disillusioned with the welfare organization, which is presented as unethical.[18] The film presents itself as "based on a true story", although there are major differences between its portrayal and the South Dakota court case which inspired it.[19]

The film received an overall rating of "rotten" from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with seven out of nine negative reviews.[20] Michael Rechtshaffen, writing for the Los Angeles Times, called the film's execution "spottier than a kennel full of caged Dalmatians",[21] and Glenn Kenny of Rogerebert.com labeled it "shamelessly manipulative",[22] while Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote that "it’s a prosaic piece of muckraking, but it grazes a nerve", calling its pro–breeding industry strategy "cunning".[18][23] The film's premiere in Springfield, Missouri, which included a live auction of an Australian shepherd, inspired a small protest.[24]

Pray for Rain

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In 2017, Protect the Harvest and ESX entertainment produced Pray for Rain, directed by Alex Ranarivelo, which follows a young reporter (Annabelle Stephenson) as she investigates the murder of her farming father amid the 2011–17 California drought.[25] The film advances a form of the California drought manipulation conspiracy theory, incorrectly blaming environmentalists and bureaucrats for creating a "man-made" water shortage.[26] The film received negative reviews,[27] with Roger Moore of Movie Nation calling it a "ludicrous Lucas Oil-man financed propaganda picture",[28] and Brian Orndorf of Blu-ray.com writing, "As much as I enjoy the image of Jane Seymour blasting away with a shotgun that’s probably bigger than she is, the melodrama of the effort only manages to cripple the production."[29]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Beckel, Michael (May 29, 2014). "'Radical Animal Rights Movement' Gets New Foe". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  2. ^ P.J. Huffstutter and Lisa Baertlein (April 16, 2012). ""Pink Slime" controversy stokes clash over agriculture". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  3. ^ Wyant, Sara; Chase, Spencer (May 10, 2017). "Meet Sec. Perdue's new inner circle at USDA". Agri-Pulse. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c "Who's Really Attacking The HSUS?". humanesociety.org. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Hernandez, Anne Helen Petersen, Ken Bensinger, Salvador (July 12, 2018). "Meet The Man — And Propaganda Machine — Behind The Hammond Pardon". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved September 7, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ a b "Protect the Harvest founder wins American Agri-Women's Veritas Award". AGDAILY. November 16, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
  7. ^ Statutory Amendment to Chapter 273, Relating to Dog Breeders. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Steve Fairchild. "A promise to protect". Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  9. ^ Amendment to the right of Missouri citizens to engage in agricultural production and ranching practices shall not be infringed. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  10. ^ Philpott, Tom (December 13, 2016). "A guy who exists purely to troll the Humane Society was just hired by Donald Trump". Mother Jones. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  11. ^ Wade, Christian (October 16, 2016). "Oil baron behind cage ban opposition". Salem News. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  12. ^ a b Clifton, Merritt (February 5, 2017). "Is Protect the Harvest behind USDA purge of Animal Welfare Act data?". Animals 24-7. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  13. ^ Jurga, Fran (February 10, 2017). "Wipeout: How the battle over the Big Lick Walking horses changed access to information on the welfare of all animals". Equus Magazine. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  14. ^ "Protect The Harvest makes leadership appointments". WATTPoultry.com. September 7, 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  15. ^ Newswire, P. R. (September 5, 2023). "Dr. Mike Siemens named Protect The Harvest executive director; Theresa Lucas McMahan appointed chief administrative officer". The Times. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  16. ^ "Protect the Harvest PAC Summary". OpenSecrets. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  17. ^ ""The Dog Lover" Nationwide Release". Protect The Harvest. July 8, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  18. ^ a b Gleiberman, Owen (July 7, 2016). "Film Review: 'The Dog Lover'". Variety. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  19. ^ Hult, John (July 12, 2016). "Sorting truth from fiction in 'The Dog Lover'". Argus Leader. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  20. ^ "The Dog Lover". Rotten Tomatoes. January 9, 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
  21. ^ Rechtshaffen, Michael (July 5, 2016). "Heavy-handed 'Dog Lover' takes aim at activists". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  22. ^ Kenny, Glenn (July 11, 2017). "The Dog Lover Movie Review & Film Summary (2016)". Roger Ebert. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  23. ^ Hult, John (July 8, 2016). "Activist film revisits SD puppy mill fiasco". Argus Leader. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  24. ^ Holman, Gregory (July 9, 2016). "'The Dog Lover' prompts a protest at the Gillioz". Springfield News-Leader. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  25. ^ Duprey, David (June 20, 2017). "Pray For Rain (2017) Review". That Moment In. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  26. ^ Walsh, Katie (June 15, 2017). "Investigative thriller 'Pray for Rain' offers oversimplified explanation for drought". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  27. ^ "Pray for Rain". Rotten Tomatoes. June 14, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  28. ^ Moore, Roger (June 11, 2017). "Movie Review: "Pray for Rain," but wear your waders". Movie Nation. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  29. ^ Ornsdorf, Brian. "Pray for Rain (2017)". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
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Official website

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