A coalition of 55 environmental, agricultural, and food-safety organizations signed a letter urging the Iowa General Assembly to pass a moratorium on new and expanded factory farm development in the state. Iowa currently houses nearly 23 million hogs, a record for the state and the highest number in the country.
The groups cited the state’s “serious water pollution crisis” as a major reason for the moratorium. The state’s factory farms produce 22 billion gallons of manure annually, which is applied to fields in greater quantities than crops can absorb. The excess runs off into bodies of water. There are many deleterious health effects associated with the air and water pollution that results from intensive animal agriculture.
According to the letter, nearly 25 percent of Iowa counties have passed resolutions in favor of greater community control over industrial farm development, or in favor of a factory farm moratorium. The state’s largest newspaper, the Des Moines Register, wrote an op-ed in September that called for a moratorium on factory farm development, if legislators don’t pass reforms that could put more decision-making power in the hands of community members.