CAFO News Update
February 10, 2007
By Joe Miller
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This alert contains a reminder about the upcoming public hearing for our CAFO ordinance, good news from Manitoba, good news about public hearings across the country on industrial factory farming, and a warning about preemptive legislation that is being proposed in Missouri re CAFOs.
Reminder
Our excellent St. Joseph County Health Department CAFO Ordinance is scheduled for a public hearing and vote by the County Council in the Council chambers on the fourth floor of the County-City Building on Tuesday, February 13, at 7:00 p.m. It's VITAL that we all turn out for and support the passage of the Health Department's excellent CAFO Ordinance on the 13th.
Good News From Manitoba
The February issue of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Food & Environment Electronic Digest (FEED) reports (1) that "the Canadian province of Manitoba has placed a moratorium on construction of new hog farms until it has determined whether it is environmentally safe to expand hog operations... In a move welcomed by the environmental community, Manitoba's Clean Environment Commission announced that it would review all proposed projects to determine the impact on water quality of expanding hog operations."
(1) http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/feed/feed-february-2007.html
A description of the FEED program, access to all issues of the email newsletter from '05 on, and free subscription sign-up procedures are available at: http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/feed/.
Good News on Nationwide Public Hearings on Factory Farming
The February issue of FEED also reports that "the National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production is holding a series of public hearings around the country on factory farming. The task of the commission, an independent entity launched by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is to examine the impact of factory farming on public health, the environment, rural areas, and animal welfare. Its final report and recommendations could be very influential, so it is important for the commission to hear from family farmers, citizens in communities affected by factory farming, and others who have particular knowledge of the issues." See the following links for more information on the meetings (2) and the public health and environmental issues (3) posed by industrial animal production.
(2) http://www.ncifap.org/meetings/
(3) http://www.jhsph.edu/clf/programs/farming/index.html
Warning About Preemptive Legislation in Missouri re CAFOs
The following five paragraphs are reproduced from an article entitled "Biotech & Factory Farm Bullies Attack Local Democracy in Missouri" (4) on the Organic Consumers Association website. The article originally appeared on the Environmental Commons (5) website. The article indicates precisely why it is so important that we all turn-out for and support the passage of our and the St. Joseph County Health Department's CAFO Ordinance this Tuesday evening!
(4) http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4011.cfm
(5) http://environmentalcommons.org/
Environmental Commons continues to track agriculture-based legislation that impacts local government and community decision-making. Unlike previous years of tracking, which focused solely on identifying "seed preemption" bills aimed at removing a community's ability to make decisions about seeds and plants, the 2007 Tracker (6) is additionally identifying where state and local lawmakers recognize the importance of community decision-making and are introducing bills that protect small farming systems and local decision-making. So far in 2007, the bill of most concern has appeared in Monsanto's home state of Missouri. Missourians for Local Control is actively fighting this bill.
(6) http://environmentalcommons.org/tracker-expands-2007.html
Missouri, SB364 Missouri's SB364 is a particularly alarming bill. Its language, if passed, would provide that "state law and regulations adopted by state agencies shall preempt the entire field of and constitute a complete and integrated regulatory plan for agricultural operations in Missouri." Whereas the 2006-defeated bill centered solely on seeds, the 2007 SB364 would preempt local governments from making any decisions related to agriculture. Not only would local jurisdictions be hamstrung from passing laws related to seeds and plants, but also regulations related to industrial concentrated animal feeding operations would be preempted by the State.
According to Dick Burke of the Missouri Association of Counties, "local officials are willing to cede some control. But a total pre-emption is just something we cannot accept." In addition, Tom Beamer, the mayor of Arrow Rock, who has fought a well-publicized battle against a proposed hog farm expansion near the tiny, town located on a bluff above the Missouri River, stated, "Without any county planning and zoning, then there's nothing you can do to stop it. A farmer could put a nuclear reactor in his field and you couldn't stop him. You might as well not have a county commission because everything is being decided by the state." Beamer added that tourism and the town's historic sites are the only industry it has and that a large animal-feeding operation would be devastating. He said it is these kinds of factors that only local governments can consider.
Why Local? Providing local governments and communities with oversight of their food supply ensures that food production, distribution, and marketing are carried out in ways that are healthy for the local economy and the environment. The local control of our food supply helps secure the health and welfare of communities. Local authority strengthens democracy and gives citizens a more direct stake in a healthy future. Local control of our food improves food security, local economies, environment, and community cohesion and civic engagement.
From a public policy standpoint, local governments have historically been provided oversight of issues of health, safety, and welfare. Certainly farming operations fall within this arena. Moreover, when a series of local jurisdictions begin introducing laws to better protect health, safety, and welfare, the state's response should not be to simply remove the local governments ability to protect its constituents. The basis for such local laws should be thoroughly explored and studied. Perhaps concentrated animal feeding operations significantly affect air quality. Perhaps the cultivation of genetically modified seeds presents a real threat to local native species or organic farming economies. The State needs to support the concerns of its local jurisdictions not simply run roughshod over them. In 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to James Madison in which he stated, "I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but the people, and if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not to take the power from them."
See you on Tuesday evening.
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Joseph MillerDepartment of Psychology
51 Madeleva
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN