In this enlightening conversation, Mariann Sullivan speaks with Jessica Culpepper, Executive Director of FarmSTAND, about their unique approach to dismantling industrial animal agriculture through legal advocacy that unites multiple stakeholders. Culpepper shares how FarmSTAND strategically challenges the systems that enable animal exploitation by representing workers, communities, and animals simultaneously—creating powerful coalitions against corporate interests that typically divide these groups. Rather than focusing solely on the worst abuses or single issues, FarmSTAND targets the structural conditions that allow animal agriculture to operate with impunity, from corporate deception around “climate-friendly” meat to the dangerous proliferation of factory farm gas as a false climate solution.

This episode explores:

• How FarmSTAND builds collective power by bringing together animal advocates, workers, farmers, and communities to challenge the shared systems that exploit them all
• Why challenging corporate methane capture schemes (marketed as “green energy”) is crucial for preventing the entrenchment of factory farming
• The strategic approach of challenging corporate greenwashing through litigation that exposes deceptive climate claims from companies like Tyson
• How worker justice and animal protection are intrinsically linked, with worker exploitation and animal abuse being parallel outcomes of the same structural conditions
• Why transformative change requires targeting the systemic scaffolding of industrial agriculture rather than just its most visible abuses

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Jessica Culpepper is the Executive Director of FarmSTAND, leading the organization’s staff and board to fight for a fair food system in courtrooms and communities. Jessica’s 16 year career has been entirely focused on legal advocacy on behalf of farmed animals and communities harmed by industrial animal agribusiness. Her fight for a fair food system began at her alma mater, Warren Wilson College, a work college with a sustainable working farm and garden. Most recently, she was the Director of the Public Justice Food Project where she grew the program from a single staff attorney to a team of eleven organizers, lawyers, and paralegals. As a lawyer, Jessica worked primarily on fighting pollution from factory farms with fenceline communities and advocating for federal and state policy reform to advance fair food systems. Jessica stays deeply tied to the fight for a fair food system in her personal life as well as chair of the board of Socially Responsible Agriculture Project and board member of Warren Wilson College. She loves cooking food from her garden and has a top secret recipe for the world’s best pumpkin pie.

We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.

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The Veganic Summit is a free online event from November 7th-9th, 2025. You’ll learn how plant foods can be grown using techniques that are both vegan and organic, without any chemical fertilizers or any animal byproducts like manure or bonemeal. If you’d like to start your own veganic garden or learn about sustainable plant-based farming, sign up for the Veganic Summit today at https://veganicsummit.com/

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