Agriculture conference educates community on confined animal feeding operations

Though the news was grim, local farmers, residents and concerned citizens turned out for the 2010 Indiana Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) Watch Conference Saturday morning.

While Indiana made no moves this year to prevent any adverse consequences from CAFOs, other states are making strides toward the elimination of the harmful animal factories.

In California, proposition two, passed July 6, stated animals should have room to lie down, stand up and move their extremities. Farming operators have until 2015 to make arrangements to meet space requirements. In Ohio a compromise was made between Livestock Board and the Humane Society of the United States, which said there would be no transportation of down cows -cows that are severely injured or sick to get up- and no new battery cages.

In Indiana, hog production was among the goals of Governor Mitch Daniels as he entered office. In 2005, Daniels set the goal to double hog production in 10 years, while maintaining the quality of life for the communities in Indiana.

The Indiana Department of Agriculture has bragged about the total hog and pig production rising by 8 percent from 2005. The state's pork industry is the fifth largest producer of pork in the United States and is led by 3,000 producers, according to Indiana Pork, a trade association.

Indiana State Sen. Sue Errington attended the conference. As part of the Energy and Environment Committee, Errington said she likes to hear the latest development in CAFOs in Indiana.

"We are all personally interested in this because it's about what we eat," Errington said. "I don't deal with the odors because I live near campus, but if something gets into the drinking water, that affects every one of us, so we need to be sure we have clean air and water."

Errington said she hopes there can be reconciliation between farmers, residents and government.

"I'm hoping to hear how we can reconcile the various interests without giving up the public needs for public safety, and that is why they are here, to safeguard public health and our environment," she said.

While Errington focuses most of her work in sustainable energy, she said it does have a close tie with CAFOS.

"I put the bulk of my work in green energy. While that isn't the topic here, they do go together," she said. "We are looking for a greener America and Indiana, and we have a good start with the geothermal project at Ball State."

The conference, which was held to educate the public on CAFOs and how to approach local, state and federal officials through tight grassroots organizations, featured presentations by Rick Dove, an environmental advocate; Terry Spence, a cattle farmer from Missouri; Lynn Henning, the winner of the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize for North America; and Jillian Parry Fry, Ph.D. student in the Health Policy and Management Department at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Sponsored by the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project, the 2010 Indiana CAFO Watch Conference offered question and answer sessions to helping community members protect themselves from the devastating impacts of the farms, including questions on legislation by government officials and on CAFO regulations.

Randolph county resident Wendy McCarter-Read said she experienced some of the harmful effects of CAFOs living next to an industrial farm.

"Since the first of May, when they first spread the liquid manure, the smell has been so bad my kids can hardly go outside," McCarter-Read said. "Health issues have been sore throats and a lot of strep throat this year."

Rick Kremer of State Line Agriculture, the farm only a few miles from the Read property, was charged with 17 of 23 violations given to the farm by the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency in May of 2010, according to an article in the Daily Standard.

But McCarter-Read said it did not help the day-to-day frustrations of living by a CAFO.

"My biggest frustration is of course the odor, but more so the fact someone can pollute and pollute in Ohio then come to Indiana and pollute some more," she said. "I'm not anti-agricultural, I love bacon, but I just want healthy air, healthy food and healthy water."