by Carla Klein, Ozark Chapter Program Director
Memories of growing up on the family farm will always be among my most precious. I loved being outdoors, driving the tractor in from the hayfield, playing hide and seek in the hayloft and working in the garden. My Dad taught us the importance being good stewards, caring for the land and the animals and being a good neighbor. It was hard work and long hours but he loved farming almost as much as he loved his family. We had great neighbors that were always there to help out when needed. It was common practice to loan out farm equipment to your neighbor, help get in a crop and share extra bounty from each others gardens.
Neighbor helping neighbor and the natural smells and sounds of the farm and nature are images that many people envision when thinking about the family farm. Unfortunately the very way of life that Americans treasure is at risk of being lost. Missouri’s family farms are being pushed out by corporate agriculture or confined animal feeding operations, CAFOs. These operations are not farms so much as they are workings of an industrial process. These huge facilities house thousands of animals crowded into confined spaces. Gone are the images of livestock roaming the fields with fresh air and sunshine. Hogs, cattle and chickens are now raised as machines in factories (see CAFO diagram).
Packing huge numbers of animals into crowded facilities results in enormous amounts of waste. These facilities pollute our waterways and emit horrible airborne toxins. Far from being a good rural neighbor, factory farms rob their neighbors of the enjoyment of their property. Folks unfortunate enough to have industrialized agriculture move into their communities are often forced to stay indoors and keep their windows closed to escape the noxious odors.
Health Impacts
CAFO generated waste can contaminate groundwater and surface water with nitrogen in the form of nitrates and other nutrients such as phosphorous. Elevated nitrates in drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome. Blue baby is a cause of both illness and death in infants. Dangerous bacteria and other pathogens can remain in surface waters near CAFO lagoon spills for a full two months. Contamination of drinking wells near these facilities is well documented. For more information see:”Poultry on Antibiotics: Hazards to Human Health” report http://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms/antibiotics.
A common gas emitted from factory farms is hydrogen sulfide, known to cause eye, nose and throat irritation, diarrhea, hoarseness, sore throat, cough, chest tightness, nasal congestion, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and even death. A study of the Minnesota Department of Health found levels of hydrogen sulfide emanating from a CAFO manure lagoon posed a potential threat to human health. After two years of testing the facility, the state found hydrogen sulfide levels far exceeding the state standard. Missouri CAFO facilities have just recently begun air monitoring.
Robert S. Lawrence, MD John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health testified this month before the Congressional hearing on environmental and health impacts of CAFOs. Dr. Lawrence concluded, “The public health threat of CAFOs reflects the multiple exposure routes through air, water and soil of harmful gases, pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrates, and pathogenic microorganisms.” Lawrence asserts the threats are real and urgent and additional protections are needed.
Subsidized Agricultural
CAFOs are non-sustainable forms of agriculture that externalize pollution costs to the environment and local communities. The claims that huge farms are necessary to make farming profitable seem to fall apart when you consider the heavy subsides for industrialized agriculture. Since 1991, subsides for the countries’ largest farms have nearly tripled, while small family farms have not received subsidy increases. According to USDA, sixty percent of all farmers and ranchers do not qualify for subsidy programs. Large farms collect nearly all the subsidy funds. This cycle supports cheap food but hides the real costs of environmental degradation and threats to human health.
For more information visit Environmental Working Groups Farm Subsidy Database http://www.ewg.org/farm/addrsearch
Join Family Farmers Fighting Back
You may remember our major victory last session, working with family farmers and coalition groups to beat back corporate agriculture’s attempts to outlaw local control and county health ordinances. County health ordinances are the only tool to provide communities additional protections from CAFOs. The Sierra Club helped to organize “Missourians for Local Control” a network of organizations and individuals who believe that decisions about our communities should be made at the most local level possible — the level at which the very people who are impacted can best participate. Together we have continued our work over the interim to educate rural Missourians about what is at stake. We have helped local communities that are being inundated by new CAFO facilities and armed them with facts to fight back.
This is a fight we can’t afford to loose. We know that industrialized farming is non-sustainable, it threatens our food supply, contaminates our air and water, and is destroying rural communities. The actions we take today will determine the future of Missouri agriculture. We can continue the tradition of healthy sustainable family farms by keeping local control of our communities.