CAFOs
According to AGDaily’s website, North Carolina, Iowa, Wisconsin, and California are among the states with the largest numbers of CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations), and Environmental Protection Agency data show the total number of CAFOs across the U.S. as topping 20,000.
Talking to a lady friend in Iowa, a developer had plans to open up a CAFO in Allamakee County. I understand that county has some rough edges. Allegedly, some people there told the developer, “If you build a CAFO here, we’ll kill you.”
Threats are ugly but sometimes they work. Idle threats are just wolf talking though. So, the hog CAFO moved to neighboring Winneshiek County instead.
Years ago, there was a CAFO to be built in my own Vernon County. We have a lot of farms but plenty of non-productive hillsides, and some truly fine trout streams. It sure didn’t seem right for the area. I didn’t know much about it, as there was only a little bit in the local paper. An area resident woman was passing out fliers, urging people to attend the town board meeting and I attended, the flier lady was there, too.
The meeting was dominated by CAFO boosters, that I suspected were local politicians. “You want jobs? Here’s jobs!”. The chairman expressed a desire to find out just who was passing out the fliers. I think she was a neighbor to the proposed site. One man in attendance, wasn’t the big money behind the CAFO, only the front man. The flier lady asked him if he had insurance.
I regretted not speaking up. Sure, it will create jobs, but not many. It will create a massive cleanup when the owners decide to move on, and Clean-up is best left to the taxpayers right? And as in most large operations there would-be considerable increase in noise and traffic.
Well, in the end, that CAFO was never built. Allegedly, the county or township board might have been involved with trying to bring the CAFO in with personal interest. Wasn’t much in the papers on this, but in the end, I feel it worked out well for our little area.
I realize with the world’s population now; our old-fashioned family farm might not meet current and growing demand.
The great plains extend from here out to the Rockies. Plenty of places to build CAFOs without killing our trout and disturbing the flora and fauna unique to the Driftless Area.
President Andrew Jackson had many faults, but bowing down to the aristocracy wasn’t one of them: “Gentlemen! I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out!”-1834. This is disputed 190 years later and they’re still maximizing the profits and sticking the taxpayer with the bill.
James Hoban is a retired Merchant Marine Officer and writer. He started off washing dishes and retired at the rank of Chief Mate after 34 years of going to sea. He’s lived in Chile and Thailand and traveled extensively in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Now he goes fishing and plays the fiddle. Hoban makes his home in the Driftless.
