published on www.towncriernews as “Falling through the Matrix”

Imagine that for 43 years you live in the country in a 117 year old farm house. The home which you have carefully restored and your 120 acres are your pride and joy. You hope to give it to your son someday or perhaps sell it and use the money towards retirement. Then on the day a family member dies you see earth moving equipment a quarter mile from your home. Your life long neighbors who you thought were friends are putting in a confinement operation that will hold 2490 hogs. They haven’t said a thing about this up until now. It’s closer to your house than to theirs and within short distance from a church, daycare, and 11 other homes. Iowa law says that this is just fine. This nightmare happened right here in Marion County.

The farmer who is constructing the confinement facilities justifies this in a letter to a local newspaper by saying “we’ve considered ways to diversify our farm so that our sons could pursue their dreams of becoming full time farmers…raising hogs provided the best opportunity. We chose Cargill as our partner. We will incorporate the manure underground so that it can serve the fertilizer needs of our crops while safeguarding water quality.”

As for the air quality, her neighbor notes, “I can definitely smell it.”

Livestock operations such as those built in Marion Couny have plenty of champions in Iowa. You would almost think that it is un-Iowan to complain about them. For example, in a recent issue of Spokesman, a Farm Bureau publication, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation president Craig Lang sounds a bit over the top as he warns of activist groups which want to shut down livestock production in Iowa. These activist groups are “organized and well financed and will use every means possible to put farmers put of business.” Didn’t his organization, which is seeing record membership here in Marion County, launch a well -financed smear campaign against organic farmer Denise O’ Brien less than a year ago? One has to wonder what groups he is talking about.

The well organized activist group in this case appears to be a handful of local residents impacted by the factory farm. They gave me a letter signed by eleven families that states “The hogs that will be confined and fed near our homes won’t be owned by a local farmer, but by a mega out-of-state corporate agribusiness….One family will profit financially by selling out to this corporation. On the other hand, at least 12 families will experience significant negative impact on quality of life and at least a 30% decease in property values due to their proximity to this hog confinement operation.” They also express concerns that the highly toxic gas associated with hog manure (hydrogen sulfide) will nauseate them and cause seizures in their pets and small children.

A local farmer summed up the situation this way “ The farmers in Pleasantville (the hog producers), and the neighbors whose property values have plummeted, are both victims.  They are victims of corporate interests.  If Craig Lang were really on the farmers’ side, he would be an advocate for the farmers’ receiving a  larger chunk of the profits.”

Nathan Baer of the Environment Iowa Research and Policy Center (a non-profit group which lists two non-corporate sponsors on its web site) does NOT want to shut down agriculture but he does feel that the laws protecting Iowans from the harmful effects of factory farms need to be strengthened. He points out that those who apply for confinement operation permits are judged on their answers to “Master Matrix” questions before a permit is granted. The Matrix questions are graded pass -fail. Future confinement operation owners are allowed to skip questions and often only answer the easiest ones. He points out that in addition to skipping out on recommend air and water quality safety requirements, most Iowa confinement operations (86%) are built closer to someone else’s residence than they are to the owner’s home! This is a great injustice.

Baer feels that the Master Matrix needs some beefing up. He suggests changing the application process to require that all questions about the proposed confinement operation be answered and that separation distances between factory farms and our water supply schools, hospitals, churches and residences be increased. He also feels that local county supervisors should be able to adopt stronger ordinances to protect their citizens. Currently this is illegal. Perhaps this makes Baer an activist. Or maybe he’s just being a good neighbor.

For those who wish to learn more about this issue including legislative options, there will be a community wide form October 1 at 7 pm at the Memorial Building in Pleasantville.

References:
“Failure of the Master Matrix: Industrial Livestock Operations Still Harming Air, Water, and communities” by Nathan Baer

Dirk Steimel,”Lang: Farmers must educate consumers about agriculture” Spokesman Sept. 5, 2007 page1

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 at 5:45 pm and tagged with: Marion County Iowa, livestock confinement, environmental. To leave a comment, scroll down.
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