Will Potter's Blog, page 9

We did it! Drone on the Farm is fully funded! And #BetterThanPotatoSalad

Wow. My Kickstarter just ended, and I’m speechless. We met the original goal (in five days), we met the expanded goal (three times higher!), we met the $30,000 match goal provided by a very generous donor, and we exceeded even that.

The amount of support and confidence people have shown for this project, and for my ability to execute it successfully, is overwhelming and humbling. Thank you. Thank you to the longtime readers who have stepped up, and thank you to all the new supporters who learned about this because it was a Kickstarter “top journalism project” pick, or because it was featured in media outlets like Salon and Fast Company. Thank you all for making this happen.

As the clock was running out on this project, I was scrambling to do everything I could — radio, TV, and print interviews; blog posts; email blasts; social media outreach. Meanwhile, I was seeing every media outlet in the country covering the infamous “potato salad” Kickstarter.

Yes, people have contributed $71,000 so far to someone making potato salad.

The creator, Zack Brown, told Reddit: “I think the thing people are responding to is the opportunity to come together around something equal parts absurd and mundane.”

It makes me incredibly angry to see this celebration of apathy.

But rather than focus on idiots running “ironic” hustles, or the donors who have so much money to burn they can happily throw it at this stupidity, let’s look at what you all helped accomplish with “Drone on the Farm.”

More than one thousand people contributed to this project.
The average donation was $57. Many were only $5 or $10. People dug deep and contributed whatever they could.
The most donations came from this website and from Facebook. That means people who support this work took it upon themselves to share it with friends encourage and more contributions.
I’ve received dozens of messages from journalists, activists, filmmakers, and others who are eager to help in any way they can. They’re stepping up because they are passionate about the cause.

If the potato salad Kickstarter is about coming together around something “absurd and mundane,” this project is about coming together around something newsworthy, innovative, and ambitious. It’s a diverse group of people speaking up against ag-gag laws, and in favor of accountability and investigative journalism.

As Meghan McCain (yes, John McCain’s daughter) said to me on Take Part Live last night:

“What do [factory farms] not want us to see? That’s what scares me most about this… I really hope everyone watching donates to your project.”

Thank you all for this incredible support. I can’t wait to get started.

We did it! Drone on the Farm is fully funded! And #BetterThanPotatoSalad from Green Is The New Red

7 Reasons This Kickstarter Is Worth Every Dollar

My Kickstarter campaign, “Drone on the Farm,” was fully funded at its original goal in less than 5 days. I immediately began working with journalists, photographers, and engineers to plan how the project could be expanded in order to take photographs of more factory farms from the air.

Now, the expanded goal is substantial—$95,000—but it will allow us to investigate more farms, in more states, using better photography equipment (including thermal imagery and other novel investigative methods), and with a second drone (since ag industry folks are already threatening to shoot the first one down).

With only 24 hours left on the campaign, I need your help to make this a reality. A donor is MATCHING all new and increased contributions right now.

If we raise another $7,500, we will meet the expanded goal!

Here’s why every single dollar you can contribute is a worthwhile investment:

1) Media response has been overwhelming, and the project hasn’t even begun: Fast Company, Salon, Breaking the Set, Ecorazzi, Civil Eats, Think Progress, TakePart, Voice of Russia, First We Feast, Twin Falls Times-News, RT News, International Business Times, and a dozen radio outlets, to name a few.

Using drones to bust the food industry: http://t.co/tSoo847jjy just super
— Mark Bittman (@bittman) June 23, 2014

Plus, The New York Times‘s Mark Bittman called it “just super.” Which is pretty cool.

2) It’s not potato salad. Crowdfunding is used for a lot of things, and if you’re like me you receive a constant stream of funding requests on social media. It has gotten to the point that people use it to fund their vacations, and making potato salad can earn you $40,000. Seriously. It’s hard not to be jaded and frustrated with the entire concept. But this project is about supporting new forms of investigative journalism that can have a substantial impact on all of our lives.

3) It is exposing an industry that desperately wants to remain hidden. Ag-gag laws, which criminalize photography of factory farms and slaughterhouses, are spreading globally. This industry wants to keep consumers in the dark. The best response is to shine a spotlight, and expose what’s really taking place.

4) This affects all of us. It doesn’t matter if you are an environmentalist, a vegetarian, or an “activist,” this multi-billion dollar industry affects every single one of us. And as I wrote for CNN recently, these ag-gag laws are putting all journalists at risk.

5) It’s grassroots. There are nearly 1,100 backers on Kickstarter, ranging from $1 to $5,000. Some are loyal readers, others are completely new to this project.

6) I take your donation seriously. I recognize that there are a lot of worthy causes in need of your support, and I don’t take that lightly. I’ve done this work for more than 10 years, and this is the first time I’ve put a call out for contributions, donations, or crowdfunding. I will stretch every penny as far as possible to make this project a success.

7) Dollar for dollar match. Every new and increased donation will be matched by a very generous donor who wants to help me meet the expanded goal. If you donate $100, the donor will double it to $200. Donations will be matched until the project his $75,000.

Even increasing your donation by $5 means that there’s $10 toward the goal.

That’s an incredible, and very rare, opportunity.

Please click here and take advantage of it!

The public response to this project has already been incredibly. Thank you all so much for the support and confidence. Let’s do this.

7 Reasons This Kickstarter Is Worth Every Dollar from Green Is The New Red

Fast Company: Drones can get around strict “ag-gag” laws and document horrifying factory farms

Fast Company has a fantastic article on my Kickstarter campaign to purchase drones and investigate factory farms.

Here’s an excerpt:

It’s difficult, and in many cases illegal, to chronicle the animal abuses that occur at factory farms with photographic evidence. Investigative journalist Will Potter is hoping to try a different route: using drones to photograph factory farms from the air.

He’s spreading the word and raising money with a Kickstarter campaign that has collected over $48,000 (with the promise of matching donations for everything raised over $45,000). The money will go towards drones, legal expenses, video production, and everything else necessary to create a short documentary, an e-book, and generally document factory farm abuse…

“I’ve been reporting so much on the ag gag laws and seeing that the political climate is getting worse and worse. I just got back from a speaking tour in Australia, and ag gag laws are showing up there as well,” says Potter. “I wanted to think up ways to be more creative and ambitious.”

Please help make that happen! The Kickstarter has just 36 hours left. And every new donation is being MATCHED dollar for dollar.

Click here to donate and help us meet our “reach goal,” so that we can purchase a second drone, and expand the project to more states!

Fast Company: Drones can get around strict “ag-gag” laws and document horrifying factory farms from Green Is The New Red

Farmers Already Threatening to Shoot Down My Drone

I haven’t even purchased the drone yet—my Kickstarter hasn’t even ended—and farmers are already threatening to shoot it down.

When I launched my Kickstarter to purchase a drone and photograph factory farms, I expected some backlash from the industry. Considering the wave of ag-gag laws that make photography of farms illegal, that was pretty much a given. I wasn’t too surprised to see industry groups use hyperbolic rhetoric, like comparing my drone to the “death star.”

But some people are already threatening to shoot down the cameras.

Here are a few examples:

“It’s going to be open season on drones by farmers with shotguns if he goes through with it.” — “I WOULD…WOULD YOU?”
“If a drone was to stop over my farm, I would exercise my 2nd amendment right to bear arms to protect myself and property.” — “William Chappell”
“If shooting down somebody’s model airplane, excuse me “drone”, gets me arrested…I’ll say it one more time….PULL!” — Anonymous
“At the right distance, drones probably look a lot like clay pigeons. Simple case of mistaken identity. Happy hunting folks.” — “Chick Master General”

Some of the other comments and hate mail I have received has been, um, interesting. One of my favorites was a comment at MeatingPlace.com that the industry should “capture” my drones, “maybe launching a big net” or “throwing a bola-like device.”

It’s important to note, though, that even within the industry, people are speaking out against ag-gag laws and attempts to criminalize photography.

Chuck Jolley wrote in Drovers Cattle Network that the best thing farmers can do in response to my project “is mistake that hovering object for a bird and hope it’s duck season.”

But he went on to write about the “insanity of ag-gag laws.” “The real damage done by ag gag laws,” he says, “is the sense that animal agriculture has something to hide.”

And in Farm and Dairy, editor Susan Crowell agrees. She wrote about my project and said: “…to my farm readers, when will you realize that sharing information about your farm is as important as any other farm task you have today?”

Rather than shooting down my cameras, the agriculture industry would be much better off shooting down ag-gag laws.

Until then, part of my “reach goal” for the Kickstarter is to buy a second drone in anticipation of at least one being shot down.

Please help make that happen! The Kickstarter has just 48 hours left. And every new donation is being MATCHED dollar for dollar.

Click here to donate and help us meet our “reach goal,” so that we can purchase a second drone, and expand the project to more states!

Photo: Lima Pix via Flickr

Farmers Already Threatening to Shoot Down My Drone from Green Is The New Red

Ag Industry Compares My Kickstarter to the “Death Star”

My Kickstarter campaign to purchase drones and investigate factory farms is still going (3 days left!), but the agriculture industry has already taken notice.

On MeatingPlace.com, Emily Meredith of the Animal Agriculture Alliance compares my aerial photography to the “death star.”

“Imagine you’re on your farm and you look up to find a small model-airplane/Star Wars Death Star-type object hovering over your property,” she writes. “…this hypothetical could become reality if Will Potter gets his way.”

Well, not to be too much of a sci-fi nerd here, but I feel like it must be said that the Death Star blew up planets. 

My project is to take photographs.

So how in the world could the agriculture industry compare cameras to futuristic weapons of mass destruction? Why is photography so threatening to factory farms?

With your help, we can find out.

Right now, a generous donor is matching every new or increased contribution over $45,000, to help me meet my expanded goal. That means if you contribute $25 today, the donor will make it $50. Help make this happen! (Cue Star Wars theme).

Ag Industry Compares My Kickstarter to the “Death Star” from Green Is The New Red

Agriculture Trade Groups Crack Down on Journalists’ Rights

I was a guest on RT News recently talking about my Kickstarter to purchase drones and investigate factory farms.

Right now, a generous donor is matching every dollar raised about $45,000, to help me reach my new goal for an expanded investigation! I hope you’ll check out the interview below, and consider donating!

Agriculture Trade Groups Crack Down on Journalists’ Rights from Green Is The New Red

CNN: Exposing Animal Cruelty Is Not a Crime

CNN asked me to write about how ag-gag laws, which make it illegal to photograph or videotape animal cruelty on factory farms, affect journalists.

I’m plaintiff in two lawsuits, in Idaho and in Utah, challenging these laws as unconstitutional and an assault on freedom of the press.

Here’s an excerpt:

(CNN) – If “The Jungle” were published today, muckraking journalist Upton Sinclair would probably release photos from his undercover investigation of Chicago meatpacking plants on Flickr and upload video to YouTube. His work would be shared thousands of times on Facebook by outraged consumers. And all of this could land him in court, and even prison, under new laws being passed across the country today.

Read the full article on CNN.com.

CNN: Exposing Animal Cruelty Is Not a Crime from Green Is The New Red

HUGE NEWS! New donations to my Kickstarter will be matched!

I just got incredible news!

A donor is so excited about my Kickstarter, and all the momentum and attention it has generated, that they have committed to matching the next $30,000 in donations dollar for dollar!

That means any amount you chip in from this point forward (ie: above the current level of $45,000), the donor will do the same.

We blew through the original fundraising goal in just 5 days, and the project has an expanded goal of $95,000. That’s a lot of money, I know, but if we reach that level of funding, the project will be able to:

Acquire two drones for aerial photography
Equip one of the drones with a high-def camera and live-feed capabilities
Outfit the drones with additional capabilities, including thermal imaging
Expand the investigation to additional farms
Hire a videographer to document the investigation and help us edit the footage.
Plus carry out everything that was originally planned

The Kickstarter is at $45,000 right now, so every donation until we reach $75,000 will be doubled. 

I am so grateful for this opportunity, and there is so much potential to make this investigation even better. Please consider contributing to the Kickstarter and sharing it with friends, so we take full advantage of this rare chance!

HUGE NEWS! New donations to my Kickstarter will be matched! from Green Is The New Red

How to Expose America’s Most Secretive Industry

Salon has a great article on my Kickstarter project to use drones to investigate factory farms.

Here’s an excerpt:

Enter Will Potter, an investigative journalist and 2014 TED Fellow who’s dedicated his career to animal rights and environmental issues — and to exposing the way people dedicated to such causes are treated as domestic terrorists by a government primarily interested in promoting corporate interests. Last week, Potter took to Kickstarter to pitch an ambitious new investigation: he’s going to find out what’s really going on at the factory farms and slaughterhouses hiding behind ag-gag laws.

And he’s going to do it using drones.

It took only five days for Potter to meet his fundraising goal. As of Friday afternoon, he’s raised $35,000 and counting to pay for everything he needs to produce his “aerial exposé”: the drones, but also travel expenses, production costs for planned documentary and e-book, and plenty of legal counsel. The challenge now is going to be figuring out how to actually pull this off. It’s unclear he’ll find what he’s looking for, Potter told Salon, and whether he’ll be able to look at all without breaking the law. But he’s excited to try.

The Kickstarter has been so successful (fully funded in 5 days, and more than 700 backers!) that it has now been expanded! Please consider donating so we can make the project even better.

Check out what Mark Bittman of the New York Times had to say about it:

Using drones to bust the food industry: http://t.co/tSoo847jjy just super

— Mark Bittman (@bittman) June 23, 2014

How to Expose America’s Most Secretive Industry from Green Is The New Red

This Journalist is Launching Drones to Expose Factory Farm Abuse (Video)

I had the pleasure of talking with Abby Martin last night on her show Breaking the Set. We looked at new laws backed by the agriculture industry which make it illegal to photograph animal cruelty and environmental abuses on factory farms, and why that prompted me to get creative for my next investigation.

On Kickstarter, I’m raising money to buy drones for aerial photography of factory farms. As Abby noted, this is the first journalism investigation of its kind, and the industry is already up in arms about it.

I met the original fundraising goal in just 5 days, and now I’m expanding the project—I hope you’ll consider donating, and sharing it with friends!

Check out the full video below…

This Journalist is Launching Drones to Expose Factory Farm Abuse (Video) from Green Is The New Red