Lessons from the Frontlines of Food Systems Reform with Jessica Culpepper

Join the Law, Environment & Animals Program for a conversation with Jessica Culpepper, Co-founder and Executive Director at FarmSTAND, whose work focuses on how industrial animal agriculture simultaneously harms neighboring communities, workers, public health, water quality, and the climate, while concentrating economic and political power in the hands of large agribusinesses. Jessica will discuss how meaningful food system reform requires integrating legal advocacy with environmental justice, public health evidence, and grassroots movements, framing the law not merely as a mechanism for enforcing regulations but as one of several complementary tools for shifting power toward communities affected by industrial animal agriculture. Jessica Culpepper's career has been focused on legal advocacy on behalf of farmed animals and communities harmed by industrial animal agribusiness. Before co-founding FarmSTAND, Jessica was the Director of the Public Justice Food Project. As a lawyer, Jessica worked primarily on fighting pollution from factory farms with fenceline communities and advocating for policy reform to advance fair food systems. Jessica is chair of the board of the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project. This event is co-sponsored with Yale Environmental Humanities, the Yale Animal Law Society, the Yale Environmental Law Association, the Yale Sustainable Food Program, and Plant-Forward Yalies. Lunch will be provided. Please use this form to register for this in-person event.