In November, Denver residents will cast their vote on a plan to ban slaughterhouses in the city. Denver, a hub of lamb processing for the state and nation, represents 15% to 20% of U.S. lamb harvest capacity.
The slaughterhouse provides many jobs in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. This ban puts 160 jobs at stake and according to one study, at least $215 million in economic benefits, which could be as high as $860 million, counting indirect factors, Channel 9 reports.
In addition, the ban also threatens more than 2,700 jobs including independent ranchers, truckers, distributors, retailers, butchers, and restaurant owners and employees, according to a Colorado State University study.
The measure titled “Prohibition of Slaughterhouses” would outlaw “the construction, maintenance, or use of” any meat processing facilities in Denver beginning Jan. 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.”
Pro-Animal Future announced it had collected enough signatures from residents to add this proposal to the fall ballot, threatening Superior Farms, the last remaining slaughterhouse in the city. According to Pro-Animal Future’s website, the organization is a “citizen-led movement away from the exploitation, animal cruelty, and environmental pollution of factory farming, and towards a brighter future based on a more just, sustainable, and compassionate food system.”
Organizations, restaurants and people coming together to stop the ban, say the ban is wrong for working families, wrong for animal welfare and the cost of a ban will be passed on to consumers. The additional cost of shipping more of Denver’s food supply from further away will increase carbon emissions and make the food supply chain less sustainable. Read more here.
In the Proposed Denver Ordinance Banning Animal Slaughter: Implications for the Animal Sector and Economy study by Colorado State University’s Regional Economic Development Institute, analysts shared these additional concerns beyond the economic impact.
1. Some local businesses will suffer significantly.While the focus of the ordinance appears to be a single facility, economic spillovers will reverberate throughout the regional economy, because of the transport of goods and services to and from the Denver location. The meat slaughter and processing sector in Denver County is intertwined with other value-added food businesses who rely on the meat slaughter and processing sector for inputs.
2. The ordinance runs counter to demonstrated consumer preferences and choices.
Evidence suggests that consumers increasingly prefer local sourcing of food or products certifying sustainability and animal welfare innovations. The ordinance will eliminate the only substantive, local source of meat slaughter and processing for producers engaged in direct marketing of food products. Sales of domestic products are likely to be replaced by imported products.
3. The ordinance reduces the resilience of the meat supply chain.
Recent federal initiatives encourage investments enhancing the resilience of the food system including developing small and medium sized slaughter facilities. The purpose is two-fold: improving food security in times of disruption and enhancing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized livestock operations. The proposed Denver ordinance reduces the resilience of the meat supply chain and increases costs for small and medium sized livestock producers who are unlikely to find alternatives.
Chefs Join the Fight
Now, two new, high-profile stakeholders are joining the fight against the referendum, reports a Denver news source.
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 this citizen-initiated measure.
According to Complete Colorado, the Denver election website reports that issue committees have been formed both for and against the measure.
- Pro Animal Denver, has raised just under $230,000 from 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.”
- “Stop the Ban, Protect Jobs” has raised $740,000 from an array of donors including Superior Farms, the American Sheep Industry Association, the National Pork Producers Council, the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, Visit Denver, the Colorado Livestock Association, United Food & Commercial Workers International, Concience Bay Research, LLC, Political Action Trust, and the Colorado Livestock Association.
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