LEWISTON – A critic of so-called megafarming will visits Bates College to discuss contemporary farming practices and abuses of animal rights at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, at The Ronj, the college coffee house, 32 Frye St.

Harold Brown’s talk, sponsored by the student organization People Eating Plants, is open to the public at no cost. For more information, contact Erin Reed at 777-7582 or [email protected].

Brown, who was raised on a cattle farm, is outreach coordinator for Farm Sanctuary, an organization founded in 1986 to combat the abuses of industrialized farming and to raise awareness and understanding of farm animals.

At Bates, he’ll discuss his journey from a farming childhood to his position advocating for sustainable farming practices and humane treatment of animals. He’ll talk about factory farming and the state of U.S. agriculture, and touch upon animal rights, religious aspects of mercy toward animals and farming’s environmental impacts.

For more information, visit www.askfarmerbrown.org or www.farmsanctuary.org.