¡Join the fight!
I was reading this Introduction to a new book by journalist David Kirby called Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy and Poultry Farms on Humans and the Environment," over at Firedoglake, a book that the author says has three years of research and writing behind it. The Introduction is offered as a blog post and I highly recommend checking it out. Read more...
Wisconsin has okayed creation of the largest CAFO in the state.
Rosendale Dairy, which we've reported about before, has been issued a permit by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, allowing it to expand its herd from 4000 to 8000 head, making the largest CAFO in Wisconsin. Read more...
If you were up late, you saw that Fair Food Fight tweeted this last night: The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued a statement saying that it doesn't intend to grant a new permit to stinky Excel Dairy in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. Read more...
Like the rest of America's dairy industry, Wisconsin's has consolidated greatly over the last generation -- with the number of farms decreasing and the average size increasing -- but dairyman Jim Ostrom would like to take it a step further by expanding his operation, Rosendale Dairy, from 4000 to 8000 head, making it the largest CAFO in the state.
The more I read about sustainable agriculture and the necessity of fixing the current, bloated, inhumane and ecologically unsound system of food production, the more I am met with the image of the "consumer": a sketchy character invented by economics professors, and cast-- whether in the comments sections of New York Times articles or in the body of sustainably-minded blog posts--as the savior of a party that had seemed, prior to the consumer's arrival, on its last legs. Read more...
Now that the American public seems to be waking up to the reality of CAFOs (witness their primetime coming out party), shining a light on CAFO myths and excuses seems like the next logical step on the path to eradicating them for good. This post is the first in what I hope will be a running series doing just that.
A few days ago, Tom Laskawy over at Grist landed a beautiful blow to the CAFOmen's favorite myth: "sustainable farms can't possibly feed the world." Turns out, apparently, that it is possible. And, we wouldn't even have to give up meat! Read more...
You really have to wonder if a confined animal feedlot operation (CAFO) runs the planet. Case in point, what in the world does the owner of Excel Dairy in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, have to do before government officials smack him down?
Fair Food Fight reported on Excel Dairy back in 2008, when the dairy became the first CAFO in Minnesota to be declared a public health hazard -- so noxious and obnxious is Excel, that even the Minnesota Milk Producers Association hung them out to dry.) Read more...
This post is part of the Blog Action Day for Climate Change!
150 years ago, much of the Great Midwest was still covered with prairie grassland, providing valuable grazing land and habitat for thousands of plant and animal species, including millions of elk, bison and deer. These lands also supported natural environmental processes like carbon sequestration and seasonal flood control. Read more...
A national milk glut and nosediving milk prices have prompted federal lawmakers to help the US dairy industry weather this crisis, which Vermont's Sen. Patrick Leahy says is "of epic proportions." $350 million has been set aside by the federal government for struggling farmers. From the AP: Read more...
Fighting a confined animal feedlot operation (CAFO) in your region? Looking for good articles about the fight between ginormous feedlot operations and small family farms? Need a good gross-out? Here are four articles that may provide talking points, bullet points, and/or insight into the issues swirling around CAFOs.
Bacon as Weapon of Mass Destruction, by Arun Gupta, The Indypendent. Sheer, partisan CAFO-bashing. Choice quote: Read more...
