The state's largest farming organization is placing books on agriculture in Utah schools to correct what its chief executive says are "lies and distortions" that vilify America's conventional farming practices.

Utah Farm Bureau CEO Randy Parker said his organization of about 27,000 members is purchasing books to correct "eco-propaganda" messages aimed at children that assert agriculture is ravaging the environment.

"Our children are flooded with a variety of 'go-green' messages," Parker wrote in the Farm Bureau's Winter newsletter. "Children are being traumatized for not recycling an empty yogurt container or forgetting to turn off the lights."

Parker singled out the children's book That's Why We Don't Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians and All Living Things , as an example of "political-activist messages" his group hopes to counteract.

Author Ruby Roth said she wrote the book "to support children who are already vegan and vegetarian, and to explain to nonvegan children why people across the world choose not to eat animals or animal byproducts."

Roth's book, endorsed by anthropologist Jane Goodall, describes the importance of saving endangered species, and it details her view of the suffering of animals locked away in factory farms.

Parker said that in the three decades he has been in agriculture, he has never seen livestock mistreated in Utah -- whether on small or large farming operations.

"We've all see clips about animal mistreatment that are appalling to all of us," he said. "But the absolute majority of farmers and ranchers take care of their animals. Among many other reasons is, it's in their best economic interest to do so."

Parker said books that accurately portray agriculture include Milk Comes From a COW? and Farmers and Ranchers Care about their Animals! , written by Kansas Farm Bureau CEO Dan Yunk.

But Andree' Bravo, interim director of the Utah Society for Environmental Education, said both Roth's and Yunk's books have merit.

"Our goal is to present a fair and balanced view and teach people how to think, not what to think about an issue," she said. "In that case, books about why we don't eat animals should be presented alongside books such as Milk Comes From a COW? so children -- and adults -- can see both views and then make their own decisions."

The Farm Bureau is purchasing Yunk's books to be distributed through the Utah Agriculture in the Classroom program, sponsored by Utah State University. Officials at USU and the Utah Association of Conservation Districts connected with the program declined to comment.

Parker said another example of "eco-propanganda" is the video spoof, "Grocery Store Wars," paid for by the Massachusetts-based Organic Trade Association.

The video has Star Wars veggie puppets such as "Cuke" Skywalker and "Chewbroccoli" fighting The Dark Side of conventional farming and urging an organic revolution. The five-minute clip, which can be seen on YouTube, has been viewed by more than 2 million people.

"YouTube's comic anti-agriculture portrayals warn us that 'scary green monsters' of eco-propaganda are seeping into children's lives. Lies, distortions and social agendas are being presented as fact by our biased media," Parker wrote in a newsletter, named by the American Farm Bureau Federation as a top magazine.

Barbara Haumann, senior editor with the Organic Trade Association, said her group released "Grocery Store Wars" in 2005 "as a satirical pro-sustainable farming video. It is not anti-agriculture, but rather promotes sustainable farming practices. It was not aimed at children but rather at consumers who care about how their food is produced."

dawn@sltrib.com