.jpeg?1371057738)
Updated: 21 November 2012 | 6:25 am in conversations
Are ‘factory farms’ good or bad for Iowa’s future?
Related Stories
thegazette.com Copyright 2011 SourceMedia Group. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Hogs stand in a pen in a hog confinement barn at an Iowa farm in 2001. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Unless you make an effort to buy from small local farmers, chances are your last meat purchase came not from a traditional farm, but from a large animal-confinement operation.
Confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, mean different things to different Iowans.
Farm groups see relentlessly efficient, high-density livestock operations as agriculture’s future, but to critics they’re symbolic of corporate-driven industrial agriculture hollowing out rural communities.
How do you feel about confined animal feeding operations, known by some as “factory farms”? Are they good or bad for Iowa’s future?
Rules of Engagement
Are ‘factory farms’ good or bad for Iowa’s future?
Having spent my entire life in Iowa and living and with and working for Iowan farmers I have no idea what ‘factory farm’ means.
I retain fond memories of our family dairy farm with a herd of 60 head and a chicken coop with 200 layers (Mom sold eggs). That is good nostalgia. Yet, today I want good quality food at the lowest price possible. On a cost basis, the family farm cannot compete with the factory farms. Let’s accept that and move on.
Let’s Accept that and move on….if it were that simple…factory farms are something the animal rights people have dreamt up to make these operations sound just deplorable…but still large operations in Iowa are family farms and family labor…we all like the romance of grand dads farm,but no one wants to work like grand dad did years ago…And the economics are a lot difrent than years go…if we didn’t have these large producers today we would be paying 10 dollars a pound for pork…Because the little guy can’t produce enough to fill the demand…I remember years ago the daily hog slaughter was announced on the radio…75-100 thousand a day…now it’s over 200 thousand with very few farms in this country left…like less than 1% of our total population producing food for this country and others…
Free markets and monopolies are not suppose to be compatible. Did that change?
Some factory farms are bad for the state of Iowa for the fact, some have been known to pollute our environment. In saying this, I would have a hard time accepting any industry polluting. I’m sure most farmers care about the environment and their reputation as well. I personally think when there’a a large amount of livestock in a confined space, this in itself is a recipe for disaster. I would like to see limitations. More importantly, if the designed system that’s in place now is not working, then improvements need to be made. It’s my hope, all the parties involved will come to the table and find a solution to the problem.
http://iowahouse.org/2011/11/18/iowa-hosts-first-ever-urban-ag-academy/
The “factory farms” built today for hogs are a symbol of progress. Obliged by the “master matrix” which is a set of environmental rules accepted by the DNR, hog confinement buildings keep rain off manure and store it in reinforced structures until which time it can be knifed into the soil. On the other hand, older, open lot facilities were exposed to the rain and runoff and manure was spread on the surface of land exposing it to runoff.
For chickens, two things seperate us from Asia; Most of our chickens are raised in confinement while theirs are allowed “free range”. Asia suffers from avian flu due to the intermingling of birds while the US doesn’t.
It’s time to stop the fear mongering against “factory farms” and allow progress!!