Rural Residents' Perspectives on Industial Livestock
Production: A Patchwork of Rural Injustice

Karen Hudson
President, Families Against Rural Messes (F.A.R.M.)

Across North America large scale concentrated corporate animal feeding operations [CAFO's] are replacing traditional family-owned farms at an alarming rate. These operations resemble factories more than farms, and carry with them consequences that impact the environment, the economy, and the basic social structure of rural America. In response to this invasion, grassroots citizens' groups have sprouted throughout America in an attempt to confront this crucial issue.

In 1996, F.A.R.M. [Families Against Rural Messes], organized in response to the news that a CAFO was to be built in our community. Until then, most of us had never heard of mega-livestock facilities, and had little or no idea about the impact they produce. Residents attempted to gather all of the facts available about this new type of industrialized agriculture—and much of it was alarmingly negative.

F.A.R.M. is citizens organized to educate the public about the facts and repercussions of industrialized agriculture, to promote responsible agriculture, and to work with decision-makers in crafting laws and statutes that protect our resources and the public interest. We realized that first we had to gather all the facts and then let the truth be our guide. F.A.R.M. now has a web site brimming with scientific data and news about this issue that is being collected from nationwide sources. We hold monthly strategy meetings, informational rallies and events, and actively lobby for responsible legislation. F.A.R.M.'s members and our activities reflect a situation that is unfolding across the continent. We are citizens gathered together to voice our democratic rights concerning this critical new multi-faceted issue affecting millions of people. The sheer concentration of animals, the amount of water they consume, and the waste they produce creates serious consequences that must be addressed. Studies show that hogs produce two and one half times the waste of a human. Although a CAFO with ten thousand hogs creates manure waste equal to a city of twenty-five thousand people, this waste is not treated like municipal sewage, but is kept in large open cesspools called lagoons. It is then spread onto the land as fertilizer. Studies show that swine lagoons contain pathogens such as viruses and bacteria, including bacteria that carry genes with the ability to create antibiotic resistance, which may be transferred to humans. The liquid waste, or effluent, is often pivot-irrigated enabling it to aerosolize into minuscule droplets, which can then drift for miles, allowing it to settle onto homes, onto waterways, and even onto people. Locations as far as two-miles from manure lagoons can become breeding grounds for swarms of disease-carrying flies. Odor is the most obvious problem with CAFO's; however, odor is just the tip of the iceberg. Over 160 chemical compounds create the gasses that are formed by the decomposition of swine waste. Studies prove that some of the gasses may be dangerous and cause negative physiological responses if present in high enough concentrations. Dust particles, odor, and gasses emanating from ventilating fans of hog barns drift for miles leaving anyone in their path at the mercy of the breeze. In Renville County, Minnesota, hydrogen sulfide gas measurements have exceeded the level for human safety. These measurements were taken because families living near large hog facilities complained of a multitude of symptoms including dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and even blacking out.

Water quality is endangered near CAFO's due to leakage and/or seepage from lagoons, and from misapplication of effluent. A recent study reveals that seepage through clay-lined lagoons occurs at a rate from ten to one thousand times greater than the rate established by laboratory testing. This seepage and misapplication of effluents allow high concentrations of nutrients to be released into the soil and, when not absorbed by crops, run off into streams and waterways or leach into aquifers. Unlike streams and rivers which, over distance, can eventually cleanse themselves, when the closed system of an aquifer is contaminated it may take up to one hundred years or more to purify itself. A Missouri study found one hundred fifty sites where manure was being over-applied to surrounding farm ground. Misapplication of effluent, waste spills, lagoon seepage, and pfiesteria piscicida outbreaks on the eastern seaboard of the United States have prompted moratoriums there on expansion of factory farms. In addition to contamination, CAFO's consume excessive amounts of water, drastically lowering water tables, and depleting water supplies for neighbors and surrounding communities. A typical finishing unit consisting of 80,000 hogs will consume 200,000 gallons of water per day, or over 73 million gallons of water per year. In Vernon County, Missouri, there has been a 125-foot drop in the water table and seventeen wells have gone dry since the development of a Murphy Farms installation. In Edwards County, Kansas, a threatened incursion by Murphy has turned the county upside down. The county is preparing to sue, if necessary, to prevent water "mining" by this outside interest. In Colorado officials are now denying permits for new installations due to concerns over the viability of the aquifer. In effect, citizens are demanding what is rightfully theirs—a clean, safe, available water supply, a vital resource that is being threatened nationwide by CAFO's.

Hogs grown in confinement are fed a diet enriched with additives needed to produce lean meat. Because the animals cannot absorb all of these nutrients the resulting waste is heavily laden with nitrogen, phosphorus, and heavy metals. New concerns regarding heavy metal buildup in the soil are now surfacing, and researchers are suggesting producers develop alternative methods of treating and disposing of manure. Concentration is the key issue here. At a certain point ecosystems cannot absorb and balance the impacts of large amounts of manure. "In effect, the nutrient imbalance created by the extreme concentration of animals, with current local disposal of wastes, cannot be sustained without serious environmental damage." In the Netherlands, intensive animal agriculture has over-saturated 2.47 million acres of soil with phosphorus. Today, Dutch farmers are required by law to ship animal waste long distances for disposal. Across the entire face of Europe, CAFO's have proved so toxic that they are strictly regulated. Police officers and inspectors regularly patrol disposal sites and fine the companies for violations. F.A.R.M.'s research has discovered that along with these serious environmental issues, the economics of rural America are equally endangered. Vertical integration of markets has caused stress for independent producers. In 1994, Hogs Today reported packers in North Carolina paid $51.00 per hundredweight for hogs purchased directly from large producers, however, on the same day, they were paying $39.00 per hundredweight on the open market—a 24% difference. In North Carolina, corporate interests continue to infiltrate every phase of production, owning the hog from "semen to cellophane," thus providing themselves exclusive contracts and forcing out small independent producers. Special interest groups often claim that more regulation will put family farmers out of business, while statistics indicate that vertical integration is the real cause. Between 1986 and 1992, North Carolina gained over 2.1 million hogs, making it the fastest growing hog producing state. However, the number of pork producers fell by nearly 50%, from 15,000 to 8,000. With tough anti-corporate farming restrictions, Nebraska leads the nation in retention of pork producers with less than a 4% loss since 1986. This is at a time when nearly one-third of the independent producers were lost nationwide. In summary, the more corporate hogs the fewer independent producers. The economic impacts of corporate factory farms reverberate across the face of rural America. Corporate investors claim they stimulate rural growth by increasing investment in pork production and creating jobs. However, a University of Missouri study found that three jobs are lost for every one created by corporate contract production. A Virginia study examined the impact of adding 5,000 sows to a rural community. For any given number of hogs grown in an area, an independent producer system provides 10% more permanent jobs, 20% more local retail sales, and 30% increase in local per capita income when compared to corporate contract hog production. A distinction between growth and development is the key here. Growth focuses on short-term impacts like jobs and investments without considering quality of life changes. Development focuses on positive and sustainable long-term changes that effect quality of life and equity. Many economically depressed rural communities have relied on "desperation economics" whereupon they are apt to grab whatever growth comes their way without serious consideration of the long-term consequences. Rural leaders need to consider new ideas and develop communities from within rather than looking for industries that pay little, pollute much, and export their profits elsewhere.

Further economic hardship may accrue to counties which host mega-livestock operations and are already hard hit by job and population loss if the facility operators abandon their location, go bankrupt, or go out of business. When the corporation, usually a limited liability corporation, does not properly close their manure lagoons, many states have laws that require county taxpayers become responsible for the cleanup and closure, a very expensive process.

The social impacts affecting rural America are disturbing, often splitting communities, friends, and even families. Core values such as honesty and reciprocity are threatened. When large CAFO's quietly infiltrate and allow no community input or communication, trust is destroyed. Countless rural citizens now live with choking odors, depleted and contaminated water supplies, increased traffic and road degradation, as well as stresses put on independent farmers within these communities. This degraded quality of life coupled with little or no chance for citizen recourse causes anger and frustration to escalate. A recent study assessing positive and negative trends in Eastern North Carolina clearly exhibits widespread citizen concern about CAFO's. Three out of four people were very concerned about increasing water pollution and the prospect of more hog farms in the region. It is surprising that water quality and hog farms were ranked as bigger threats to quality of life than escalating taxes or crime rates. Within F.A.R.M. the negative social impacts have become strikingly evident. Members of our organization have experienced verbal threats, trespassing, and vandalism of private property. In Knox County, Illinois, the State's Attorney, the County Zoning Board administrator, and fifty-seven citizens who exercised their First Amendment rights have been sued by the nation's largest pork producer in an arrogant attempt to silence them into submission. Our members use their own disposable income to cover mounting legal costs, extensive phone bills, copying fees, and other essential operating expenses. Quality family time has been greatly diminished due to time spent fighting "the issue." Members of F.A.R.M. have also exhibited the classic symptoms of the "we versus them" mentality. This obsession to fight for our basic democratic rights has resulted in symptoms of physical and mental exhaustion in many of our group members. A study published by the State University of New York found that an agricultural structure that was increasingly corporate and non-family owned tended to lead to an emerging rigid class structure, less participation in the democratic process, fewer community services, and population decline. In fact, sociologists at Iowa State University summarized a dozen studies covering all parts of the United States over four decades and concluded from them that a change toward corporate agriculture produces social consequences that reduce the quality of life for rural communities. In Illinois, special interest groups have been aggressively lobbying the political powers that be with their money and influence. In turn, the political body has favored these corporate interests despite the fact that scientific evidence and past performance by CAFO's overwhelmingly points to the need for stronger regulation.

Members of F.A.R.M. and their supporters now realize that the normal political channels for redress we thought we possessed are very limited. In an attempt to discredit our opposition, corporate sympathizers claim our concern is based on emotion, not on scientific fact. This lack of respect for legitimate problems has led us to be highly skeptical that our concerns will be addressed through normal political processes. Consequently, we have learned a lesson of patience as we consistently and diligently plant small seeds of truth in seemingly unfertile legislative fields. Our efforts do, however, seem to be paying off. As a newsmaker our opposition to CAFO's has earned the honor of being the number one local newspaper story of 1997 in the Galesburg, Illinois, Register-Mail, the number two issue in the Peoria, Illinois, Journal Star, and statewide in Illinois, the Associated Press named mega-hog farms the number seven story. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, a recent national survey indicates that over half of America's consumers are willing to pay some premium for food produced in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. This fact must be kept in the forefront when examining the changing trends in agriculture. Billion-dollar corporations must not be allowed to influence policymakers at the expense of the environment, the social and economic structure of rural America, and the American family farmer.

What is emerging is an escalating patchwork of rural injustice that can be remedied only with a commitment to reforms that support small enterprise and family farms, reward stewardship, and promote balanced and sustainable agriculture.

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