Leaders from Food & Water Watch, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, and Des Moines Water Works gathered in Iowa Monday to call for a national ban on large-scale industrial, or “factory,” farms. In calling for the ban, the groups cited the negative impact that concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have had on farmers, animals, eaters, and the environment.
The press conference accompanied a new report by Food & Water Watch, “The Urgent Case for a Ban on Factory Farms.” The report calls for an end to the construction of new CAFOs and to the expansion of existing CAFOs. It also calls for greater local control over environmental regulation of CAFOs and better policy infrastructure to support small-scale livestock production.
Adam Mason, an organizer with Iowa CCI, pointed at a press conference to “the inaction of our legislators here in Iowa” as a central reason that “factory farms across the state have decimated the family farmer.” According to the report, between 1982 and 2007, the number of farms in Iowa fell by 80 percent. Meanwhile, the number of hogs in the state increased by ten times.
Water quality in Iowa has also suffered as a result of large-scale farming. Bill Stowe, the CEO and general manager of Des Moines Water Works, a water utility, said at the press conference that “Iowa’s surface waters are filthy,” polluted with “bacteria, with soils, with chemicals.” Stowe said the utility has found that “land use predominated by industrial farming, by factory farms, is contributing to the deteriorating water quality in this state.”
The advocates emphasized that the expansion of large-scale, industrial livestock production was not accidental, and that farming is shaped by policy decisions influenced by the meat industry. “This didn’t happen overnight,” said Cherie Mortice, the board president of Iowa CCI. “Over the years, our state legislature has showed a callous attitude” toward communities suffering from pollution as a result of large-scale livestock farming, she said. Mortice also emphasized that “this is an urban and rural issue” that should unite everyone invested in clean drinking water.