#BanFactoryFarms: Environmentalists Make Long-Shot Attempt to Ban New Factory Farms
It is estimated that there are now 25,000 factory farms in the country, accounting for 1.6 billion animals. 99% of farmed animals in the United States live on large factory farms.
ALEX BROWN: For decades, scientists have studied the effects that livestock farms with large animal concentrations in Iowa and other states have on regional water quality, as increasing amounts of waste flow into rivers and groundwater. Now activists and some lawmakers say emergency measures are needed to stop toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie, dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay, and threats to drinking water in rural communities. In some states, lawmakers worry about the future of smaller family farms.
Since last year, legislators in at least four states—Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota and Oregon—have proposed moratoriums on new or expanding farms that have more than a certain amount of livestock. None of the proposed bans is expected to become law this year, but the lawmakers say they aim to build momentum. Meanwhile, regulators in Michigan and Wisconsin are crafting new rules that would limit manure spreading during the winter, when the ground is frozen and waste is more likely to wash away…
Some lawmakers in Oregon are considering a moratorium on construction or expansion of dairy operations with more than 2,500 cows. In 2017, the state allowed a large dairy farm to open before construction was complete, which resulted in manure overflows and more than 200 environmental violations.
At the federal level, Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, has proposed legislation that would phase out so-called factory farms within 20 years. Another bill from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, would strengthen antitrust laws, a proposal that agriculture observers think could have major consequences for corporate consolidation in the industry.
But agriculture is a significant economic engine in many states. Iowa, the nation’s top pork-producing state—where at any time some 24 million pigs are being raised, according to the Iowa Pork Producers Association—exports meat around the world.
The state’s number of concentrated animal feeding operations, known as CAFOs, grew from 722 in 2001 to more than 10,000 in 2017, according to a study on the industry by two retired University of Iowa professors. On those large-scale farms, hogs or poultry are raised inside large buildings.
The livestock industry also has cultivated political power. This week, some environmental activists told reporters that Iowa’s bill, at least, isn’t likely to get even a hearing in the GOP-dominated legislature…
CAFOs have proven difficult to regulate, say environmental activists. Many companies have found loopholes in the federal Clean Water Act to avoid monitoring their contaminants or obtaining permits. Many of the air pollutants emitted by livestock are not regulated under the Clean Air Act. Meanwhile, some state agencies tasked with enforcing those laws lack the resources or interest to crack down on pollution.
The push for outright bans reflects exasperation after years of task forces, voluntary programs and regulatory fights—all while factory farms have expanded rapidly. It’s clear some lawmakers no longer see the industry’s operations as a nuisance, but an emergency…
Environmental concerns about the industry aren’t new. In the 1990s, flooding from hurricanes washed away lagoons full of pig waste in North Carolina, polluting groundwater and rivers. The state’s lawmakers voted in 1997 to ban new waste lagoons, but at least 50 existing pools once again overflowed during Hurricane Florence in 2018.
Despite the limitations in North Carolina, factory farms have grown rapidly elsewhere. Iowa has seen a fivefold increase in large livestock operations since 1990, and the industry added 1,400 such farms nationwide between 2011 and 2017, according to the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.
A 2019 study by the Sentience Institute, a social science think tank, found that 99% of farmed animals in the United States live on large factory farms. As the industry consolidates into increasingly larger operations, small and medium-sized farms’ share of agricultural production is declining, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Food and Water Watch estimates that there are now 25,000 factory farms in the country, accounting for 1.6 billion animals. Iowa, Jochum said, lost 40% of its farm jobs between 1982 and 2007. More than 85% of its small and medium-sized hog farms went out of business between 1997 and 2017. SOURCE…
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