Even though it’s been around since August, Chipotle’s anti-factory farming commercial that aired during the Grammy’s has been a topic in our office the past couple of days and I thought we’d extend our conversation here. As a group, we’re decidedly all very passionate about humanely raised, fresh, organic and (whenever possible) local food.

At my personal household level, we supplement or, depending on the season, replace our store bought daily rations by raising egg laying hens, annually culling a few meat birds for our table, tending a very large (and ever expanding!) vegetable garden and preserving our harvest for the winter months. But all our efforts are on a much, much smaller scale than Chipotle, a large chain fast food provider who generates upwards of $1 billion in sales annually. While I am thrilled by their initiative to increase attention around the issue of CAFOs (Confined or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations), I wonder how their mindfulness surrounding the subject can not just reach a broad audience (the video has upwards of 4 million views), but also how they can potentially influence and perhaps even change the fast food industry’s factory farming ways. Take two minutes to judge for yourself:

So far, there’s been recent commentary about the video in The NY Times and Fox News even claimed it “stole the Grammy spotlight”. While we whole-heartedly agree with Chipotle Chairman Steve Ells’ sentiment that “delicious, affordable food can be produced without exploiting the farmers, the animals or the environment” — we’d like to know what you think!

— Amy DePierre