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Tuesday, September 21
Family Farms, Rural Communities Threatened by Craig Amendment
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 21 Sep 2004 11:45 AM CDT
 Family Farms, Rural Communities Threatened by Craig Amendment
Environmental Integrity Project
WASHINGTON,
D.C. (September 21, 2004) - The air and drinking water, lakes and streams in and near family
farms and rural communities across the United States would be
jeopardized by a U.S. Senate amendment that would allow the undisclosed release of hazardous chemicals and other pollution from factory farm operations, according to the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and 32 leading farm, environmental and community groups.
The
controversial amendment in question is expected to be offered today by
Idaho Sen. Larry Craig in a Senate committee markup of the appropriations bill.
A joint letter to U.S. Senators on the topic has been sent by a
coalition of national and local organizations across the country,
including EIP.
The
groups are opposing the behind-the-scenes bid to exempt agricultural
operations from existing laws that require reporting of releases of
toxic chemicals. The amendment would change the definition of "release"
in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation Liability Act
(CERCLA, or Superfund) and the definition of "hazardous chemical" in
the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA).
According to the letter: "Large
livestock operations, confining thousands and even hundreds of
thousands of animals, routinely emit large quantities of hazardous
chemicals such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide into the environment and
nearby communities. Chemical releases from these operations are
anything but diffuse and low-level. Because of the concentration of
large numbers of animals and their waste, chemical releases are also
concentrated."
Data
show that the livestock sector is the largest ammonia polluter
nationwide, producing nearly three-quarters of all ammonia emissions.
The
joint letter points to mounting evidence "correlating Concentrated
Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) air emissions with detrimental public
health and environmental impacts."
According to the letter: "Peer-reviewed studies show air emissions from
a 6,000-head hog operation in North Carolina caused increased
headaches, sore throats, excessive coughing, diarrhea, burning eyes,
and reduced quality of life for nearby residents. Another study shows
increased eye and upper respiratory symptoms in residents within two
miles of a large hog operation in Iowa."
The letter continues:
"Stories abound of the horrific impacts from these types of facilities;
witness the recent, nuisance judgments against CAFOs rendered by courts
in Iowa against Iowa Select and in Ohio against Buckeye Egg. These
verdicts helped bring relief to communities plagued by noxious
emissions from facilities that had operated outside the law for far too
long. Serious questions have also been raised in the San Joaquin Valley
- an area heavily polluted by agricultural operations - with respect to
CAFOs' contribution to total air pollution and the corresponding health
effects associated with smog and particulate matter pollution. Seven
people have died in Minnesota since 1992 from exposure to toxic
hydrogen sulfide fumes released during the pumping of animal waste from
pits. Two California dairy workers died this year from hydrogen sulfide
exposure."
EIP Senior Counsel Michele Merkel said: "In
addition to our concerns about public health, we find it completely
inappropriate to use appropriations bills to make substantive
amendments to longstanding environmental protection laws. The groups are asking the Senate to keep this bill (and all other appropriations bills) free of anti-environmental riders."
The full text of the joint letter is available online at http://www.environmentalintegrity.org.
Thursday, September 16
Iowa: Lessons in Wind Power
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 16 Sep 2004 09:46 AM CDT
 Lessons in Wind Power
Iowa Policy Project
ESTHERVILLE,
Iowa - Wind-power pioneers in education held the attention Wednesday of
renewable energy advocates touring four Midwestern states on bicycles.
The
Wednesday leg of the six-day Green Bike Tour 2004 opened at Iowa Lakes
Community College, where riders met with 15 students from Iowa and
other states who are in a program for wind-machine maintenance.
"This
may be the only college in the nation doing this type of program," said
David Osterberg, executive director of the Iowa Policy Project, which
is sponsoring the Green Bike Tour with the Minnesota-based League of
Rural Voters. The riders toured the Iowa Lakes facility, where a
new turbine is going up.
"The
community college will be producing wind power and selling it back to
the city, an example of how you can put everything together in a
moderate-sized town," Osterberg said. "It's local economic development.
It's value-added. It's what we want to see happen."
The tour
began Monday in South Dakota and Minnesota, moving to Iowa on Tuesday
with stops in both Iowa and Minnesota on Wednesday. By Saturday, the
riders wind up in Wisconsin, having seen several more examples of
renewable-energy development in the Midwest. As part of their effort to
show off sustainable energy technologies, three riders use bicycles
that carry solar panels to produce electricity.
After
visiting the wind turbine site near Estherville, the bicyclists went on
to Fairmount, Minnesota, and returned to Iowa in late afternoon, to a
stop at Lake Mills and on to the Top of Iowa wind farm near Joice
which a similar group visited in 2002 in a northern Iowa tour.
(Source: Iowa Policy Project)
Friday, September 10
The Green Bike Tour 2004 Hits Iowa
by
Linda Thieman
on Fri 10 Sep 2004 05:48 PM CDT
The Green Bike Tour 2004 Hits Iowa
Iowa Policy Project
Solar Bike Tour to Wind Through Four States
HOWARD,
South Dakota - Renewable energy supporters will set out Monday on a
solar bicycle tour of rural communities in South Dakota, Minnesota,
Iowa and Wisconsin to demonstrate the potential for economic
development through investments in wind, solar and bio-based fuels.
The
six-day Green Bike Tour 2004 will begin at Howard and will proceed
through Saturday with elected officials, energy producers, energy
policy activists and media joining the ride at various stages, for a
variety of events and visits. Three bikes on the tour carry solar
panels that produce electricity to power uphill rides or to play music.
"This
tour illustrates that renewable energy production is growing in the
upper Midwest. Two years ago we rode bikes in Europe to see the success
of such development. We hope to change policy in Midwest states to
allow renewable energy to grow faster," said David Osterberg, executive
director of the Iowa Policy Project, which is sponsoring the tour in
conjunction with the Minnesota-based League of Rural Voters.
"Global
climate change is real," Osterberg continued. "We can confront
this environmental problem and help our economy in the Midwest. We are
going to see lots of exciting examples of how renewable energy
technology can keep money working in our own communities, and provide a
more secure energy future."
Communities
selected for visits in the four states have some organized local
interests or an economic connection to renewable energy.
"Investments
in community-based renewable energy projects help strengthen local
economies, reduce our dependence on imported energy and help clean up
the environment at the same time," said Niel Ritchie, executive
director of the League of Rural Voters. "The tour is an effort to
salute those rural communities in Midwestern states that are leading
the way, partnering with farmer-owned cooperatives, utilities and
educational institutions to make these projects a reality."
"We need
the federal government to step up and commit to a new direction in
energy policy, away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy."
The
public can keep track of the Green Bikers during the tour through
stories and photos that will be updated daily on a website, www.greenbike.org.
The tentative itinerary: (includes biking and driving)
Monday: Howard, S.D., to Luverne, Minn. (includes
Sioux Falls, S.D., and Tyler and Lake Benton, Minn.)
Tuesday: Okoboji, Iowa, to Emmetsburg, Iowa (includes Spirit Lake School, Linn Grove, Storm Lake)
Wednesday: Estherville, Iowa, to Joice, Iowa. (includes Fairmount, Minn.)
Thursday: Dodge Center, Minn., to Northfield, Minn.
Friday: Northfield to Mississippi River to La Crosse, Wis.
Saturday: La Crosse to Baraboo, Wis.
Note: The itinerary is likely to change. Updates will be provided on the web at http://www.greenbike.org.
Des Moines: Conference on 9/11 to Assess Global Security on Third Anniversary of War on Terrorism
by
Linda Thieman
on Fri 10 Sep 2004 04:30 AM CDT
Des Moines: Conference on 9/11 to Assess Global Security on Third Anniversary of War on Terrorism
The public is welcome
A unique educational event will take place in Des Moines on September 11.
The conference, “National Security and the New Arms Race: Impact on our Health, Environment and Humanity”
will explore critical questions about achieving collective and
individual health and security in an increasingly unstable and violent
world. George E. Moose, United States Ambassador, will be the keynote
speaker. A panel of physicians and nuclear weapons experts will discuss
the escalating unhealthy costs of the new nuclear arms race to health,
the environment and the economy.
The
conference will open with an interfaith memorial to all who have
suffered or died as a result of the attack on 9/11 – both in the U.S.
and abroad. At the conclusion of the memorial, conference participants
will consider whether on the eve of the 4th year of this war, the world
is more secure or less than it was before 9/11. Conference
participants, including health care, religious and academic leaders,
students and peace and justice activists, will be encouraged to explore
ways to work together to abolish the threat of terrorism and weapons of
mass destruction.
“We hope
the conference will motivate a diverse group of concerned Iowans to
seek alternative responses to terrorism. Investing in diplomacy,
communicating ideas and sharing common values with alienated and
persecuted peoples and nations, and addressing the root causes of
terrorism will help us reclaim our role as peacekeepers and conflict
mediators,” according to The Rev. Paul Fraser of Ecumenical Ministries
of Iowa, one of the conference’s co-sponsors. The conference will
present Physicians for Social Responsibility’s SMART Security Platform:
a Sensible, Multilateral, American Response to Terrorism. This platform
has been affirmed by a diverse group of religious leaders in Iowa.
Sponsors
include the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of
Medicine and Physicians for Social Responsibility in cooperation with
Ecumenical Ministries of Iowa, Drake Center for Global Citizenship,
American Friends Service Committee and Iowa United Nations Association.
The conference will be held on September 11 in the Des
Moines Botanical Center, and will open at 8:30 a.m. and adjourn at 4:30
p.m. Conference registration is $35.00 for general public and
$20.00 for students.
To register, contact mickiq@earthlink.net or visit www.iowa-psr.org. Walk-ins will also be welcome on the day of the event.
On the eve of the Conference, Friday, September 10
at 8 p.m., Ambassador Moose will address “The US Role in Globalization:
Present and Future” at the Drake University’s Performing Arts Hall of
the Harmon Fine Arts Center on 25th and Carpenter in Des Moines.
A brochure is available to download at http://www.iowachurches.org/
Thursday, September 9
Environment: Indian Point on HBO Tonight
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 09 Sep 2004 05:58 PM CDT
Environment: "Indian Point" on HBO Tonight
Tonight, Thursday, September 9th, HBO will air a 45-minute program at 7pm CDT called "INDIAN POINT."
It is about what an "accident" or a terrorist attack would do to this particular NUCLEAR POWER PLANT.
It is also being shown at the same time on the HBO Latino channel.
Following this will be another program called 'CHERNOBYL HEAT'
about the devastation following the 1986 Ukraine catastrophe.
Both will repeat at 10pm. The first program is part of the
"America Uncovered" series and will most likely repeat several times
this month or over the next few months. It is an excellent
series. Several years ago it showed "Blue Vinyl" about the cancer
& deaths that were caused by the production & use of vinyl
house siding in the United States & around the world. Very
haunting.
Thanks to DFIA Environmentalist Molly Regan for sending this in.
Wednesday, September 8
Iowa Fair Trade Campaign: Stop Outsourcing Our Future!
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 08 Sep 2004 10:22 AM CDT
Iowa Fair Trade Campaign: Stop Outsourcing Our Future!
The Iowa Fair Trade Campaign seeks to bring Iowans together to work for new rules for the global economy that respect workers, family farmers, immigrants, the environment, human rights, and democracy.
Groups and individuals in Iowa have worked for fair trade and global justice for many years. During the months proceeding the 2004 Iowa Presidential caucuses, we came together as the Iowa Fair Trade Campaign to insure that trade was discussed by the Presidential candidates, to present a common statement to the candidates on trade issues, and to persuade them to embrace this position.
A network of over 200 individuals representing labor, family farmers, the faith community, immigrants, students, environmentalists, and others "birddogged" the Presidential candidates throughout the state, and all the candidates campaigning in Iowa embraced our basic requests before the Iowa caucuses. The Iowa Fair Trade Statement was endorsed by 25 Iowa organizations, outlining a common position on what responsible trade agreements should include.
The Iowa Fair Trade Campaign is working to stop the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and the expansion of the World Trade Organization (WTO). We seek, instead, a new set of rules for the global economy that will insure that all Iowans, not just a few, benefit from trade and trade agreement.
Plan for September and October 2004
The IFTC will educate, organize, and mobilize citizens in Iowa to oppose the corporate global trade agenda and support new rules for global trade and investment agreements that protect the interests of workers, the environment, family farmers, consumers, human rights, and democratic processes. A major educational component will be the holding of 'town hall meetings' called 'Stop Outsourcing Our Future!' Each town hall meeting will be co-sponsored by IFTC member groups, with panelists representing as many of our constituencies as possible. Public participation and suggestions for citizen action will be a major part of each town hall meeting.
The Iowa Fair Trade Campaign currently has scheduled five town hall meetings. They will be held at the following locations and times.
Waterloo, Sept. 13, Center for the Arts, 7-8:30 pm
Marshalltown, Sept. 27, Iowa Valley Community College, 7-8:30pm
Mason City, Sept. 29, Public Library, 7-8:30 pm
Keokuk, Sept. 30, Public Library, 6:30-8:00 pm
Muscatine, Oct. 2, Muscatine Commuity College, 10:30-Noon
Please spread the word about these meetings and let Iowa Fair Trade Campaign organizer Dave Leshtz know if you'd like to have such a meeting in your part of the state. Co-sponsors and panelists are being identified. Suggestions are welcome. Contact Dave at dleshtz@ia.net or 319-621-4205.
Current co-sponsors include Iowa Farmers Union, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, many labor councils, League of Rural Voters, Americans for Democratic Action, and Iowa Conference United Methodist Church.
To read the Iowa Fair Trade Coalition’s Statement on Trade Agreements in its entirety, click on “more >>” below.
more »
Sunday, September 5
Censored: The 10 Big Stories The National News Media Ignore
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 05 Sep 2004 04:59 PM CDT
Censored: The 10 Big Stories The National News Media Ignore
By Camille T. Taiara, TruthOut.org
In late
July more than 600 people showed up in Monterey to speak at a Federal
Communications Commission hearing on ownership concentration in the
news media. The participants were a diverse group, young and old,
activists and workers, but they had a single consistent message: the
mainstream news media have been doing a deplorable job of covering the
day's most important stories.
That's
no surprise: consolidation of the media in the hands of a few corporate
Goliaths has resulted in fewer people creating more of the content we
see, hear, and read. One impact has been a narrower range of
perspectives. Another is the virtual disappearance of hard-hitting,
original, investigative reporting.
"Corporate
media has abdicated their responsibility to the First Amendment to keep
the American electorate informed about important issues in society and
instead serves up a pabulum of junk-food news," says Peter Phillips,
head of Sonoma State University's Project Censored.
Every
year researchers at Project Censored pick through volumes of print and
broadcast news to see which of the past year's most important stories
aren't receiving the kind of attention they deserve. Phillips and his
team acknowledge that many of these stories weren't "censored" in the
traditional sense of the word: No government agency blocked their
publication. And some even appeared briefly and without follow-up
in mainstream journals.
Here are
Project Censored's 10 biggest examples of major stories that have been
relegated to the most obscure corners of the media world.
1. Wealth inequality in 21st century threatens economy and democracy.
As the
mainstream news media recite the official line about the nation's
supposed economic recovery, a key point has been missing: wealth
inequality in the United States has almost doubled over the past 30
years.
In fact,
the Federal Reserve Board's most recent "Survey of Consumer Finances"
supplement on high-income families shows that in 1998, the richest 1
percent of households owned 38 percent of the nation's wealth. The top
5 percent owned almost 60 percent of the wealth.
2. Ashcroft versus human rights law that holds corporations accountable.
For
decades the United States has trained right-wing insurgents, toppled
democratically elected governments, and propped up brutal dictatorships
abroad all in the interest of corporate profits. But rarely are the
agents of repression ever held accountable for the tens of thousands of
deaths and the brutal cycles of poverty, subjugation, environmental
destruction, and violence they leave in their wake. Indeed, many
foreign tyrants go on to enjoy plush retirement right here in the
United States.
3. Bush administration manipulates science and censors scientists.
Tampering
with data that threatens corporate profits is much more widespread
under Bush than we've been led to believe. And the Environmental
Protection Agency has emerged as one of the administration's primary
targets.
One of
the first White House moves on the day Bush was inaugurated was to
fire engineer Tony Oppegard, the leader of a federal team investigating
a 300-million-gallon slurry spill at a coal-mining site in Kentucky.
"Black lava-like toxic sludge containing 60 poisonous chemicals choked
and sterilized up to 100 miles of rivers and creeks," environmental
lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in the Nation. The EPA dubbed it
"the greatest environmental catastrophe in the history of the Eastern
United States."
Bush then appointed industry insiders to top EPA posts in charge of mine safety and health.
4. High uranium levels found in troops and civilians.
Last
year Project Censored included the United States' and Great Britain's
continued use of depleted-uranium weapons despite ample evidence of
their acute health effects among its top 10 underreported stories.
Almost 10,000 U.S. troops died within 10 years of serving in the first
Gulf War, researchers had found. And more than a third of those still
alive had filed Gulf War Syndrome-related claims.
In study
after study, research pointed to the use of depleted uranium in U.S.
and British weaponry as the culprit. But authorities concentrated their
efforts into obfuscating the problem downplaying its reach,
discrediting scientists and ailing military personnel, and erecting a
smoke screen around the root causes of the "syndrome."
5. Wholesale giveaway of our natural resources.
Adam
Werbach, executive director of the Common Assets Defense Fund and
former Sierra Club president, reviewed the Bush administration's
environmental policy record and came to a disturbing conclusion: the
record is not only bad it's "akin to an affirmative action program
for corporate polluters," he wrote in In These Times.
Cheney's
infamous, secretive, industry-laden energy task force produced what can
be boiled down to two main recommendations, "lower the environmental
bar and pay corporations to jump over it," Werbach wrote.
6. Sale of electoral politics.
The Help
America Vote Act required that states submit their blueprints for
switching over to electronic voting systems by Jan. 1, 2004, and
implement those plans in time for the 2006 elections. Some regions are
already using the machines. But those who've bothered to look into the
new systems are sending up serious warning flares. Critics say that if
Americans don't want a repeat of the 2000 Florida election fiasco on
a much grander scale the administration's plans must be halted in
their tracks.
A switch
to electronic voting might seem innocent enough at first until you
look at who's implementing it, and how. Indeed, the transfer represents
the privatization of the voting process in the hands of a select few
fervent GOP supporters who've insisted on keeping their operating
systems and codes a trade secret meaning they enjoy absolute control
over the entire voting process, including ballot counting and
oversight. There's no paper trail.
7. Conservative organization drives judicial appointments.
Ever
since the Reagan administration, the neoconservatives have pursued an
aggressive campaign to stack the federal courts with right-wing judges.
Their main vehicle: the Federalist Society of Law and Public Policy, an
organization founded in 1982 by a small group of radically conservative
law students at the University of Chicago.
The
effort has been a resounding success. With the help of Republicans in
Congress, 85 extra federal judgeships were created under Presidents
Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush; 9 were created under Clinton. Now 7
out of 12 circuit courts are antiabortion. Seven of the 9 Supreme Court
justices are Republican appointees and it's been 11 years since a
post has opened up, meaning another right-winger or two could be
appointed sometime soon. During Bush Sr.'s tenure, one White House
insider boasted that no one who wasn't a Federalist ever received a
judicial appointment from the president.
8. Secrets of Cheney's energy task force come to light.
As the
Bush administration continues to protect the iron wall of secrecy it's
erected around Cheney's energy task force, at least two documents
confirm long-standing suspicions that the administration's foreign
policy is being driven by the dictates of the energy industry.
When
Bush took office in January 2001, he said tackling the country's energy
crisis would be a top priority. The United States faced nationwide oil
and natural gas shortages, and a series of electrical blackouts were
rolling across California. The president established the National
Energy Policy Development Group and appointed former Halliburton CEO
Cheney as its head.
One of
the big issues on the table was oil, which accounted for 40 percent of
the nation's energy supply and provided fuel for the vast majority of
the country's transportation as well as its expansive war machine.
And for the first time in history, the United States had become reliant
on foreign imports for more than 50 percent of its oil supply.
But
rather than lay the groundwork for converting the economy to
alternative, renewable sources, the task force's report, later released
by Bush as the "National Energy Policy" report in May 2001, promoted a
central goal of "mak[ing] energy security a priority of our trade and
foreign policy." In other words, Cheney's group wanted to find
additional sources of oil overseas and ensure U.S. access to that oil
whatever it took.
Documents
recently obtained from the task force as the result of a Freedom of
Information Act lawsuit filed by public interest group Judicial Watch
indicate Cheney and his colleagues had their sights on the black gold
under the Iraqi desert well before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
9. Widow brings RICO case against U.S. government for 9/11.
As the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, also
known as the 9/11 Commission, completed its first year, Ellen Mariani
and her attorney held a press conference on the steps of the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to announce her
own startling conclusions. Mariani, wife of Louis Neil Mariani, who
died when terrorists flew United Airlines Flight 175 into the World
Trade Center's south tower, had come to believe top American officials
including Bush, Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and
others had foreknowledge of the attacks, purposefully failed to
prevent them, and had since taken pains to cover up the truth.
The
administration, she argues in a federal lawsuit, allowed 9/11 to happen
so Bush and company could launch their seemingly endless, global "war
on terror" for their own personal and financial gain. The suit uses the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act a law created to go
after the Mafia to charge the nation's leaders with conspiracy,
obstruction of justice, and wrongful death.
10. New nuke plants: taxpayers support, industry profits.
If you
thought nuclear energy was dead, think again: the Bush administration's
energy bill yet another product of Cheney's industry-stacked energy
task force provides taxpayer cash for companies that build new nukes.
A
secretly crafted provision of the bill, released late on a Saturday
night in November, offers energy companies as much as $7.5 billion in
tax credits to build six nuclear reactors. This is in addition to
almost $4 billion set aside for other nuclear energy programs.
"Nuclear
power already has had 50 years of subsidy totaling over $140 billion,"
Nuclear Information and Resource Service's Cindy Folkers reported.
The
administration also removed terrorism protection provisions included in
the House version of the bill and reversed a previous ban on the export
of enriched uranium, which may be used to construct nuclear bombs.
The
press has been "woefully silent on the bill's nuclear provisions"
Folkers and Michael Mariotte wrote in their update for Project
Censored's new book, Censored 2005: The Top 25 Censored Stories. And
while both Democrats and Republicans managed to defeat the version of
the bill NIRS warned about last fall, supporters particularly Sen.
Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) are still trying to push those provisions
through, in some cases as riders on other bills. Estimates on the
amount of tax credits being considered have since risen to "as much as
$15 or even $19 billion."
(Click here to read the full text of the article.)
Iowa Lobby Groups Spar Over Meaning of Family Farm
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 05 Sep 2004 08:04 AM CDT
Iowa Lobby Groups Spar Over Meaning of 'Family Farm'
by Matthew Wilde, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
IOWA FALLS - Saving family farms is a top priority in Iowa.
Special interest and activist organizations aren't disputing that. But
what constitutes a family farm and which ones should be saved is a hot
topic of debate.
Two Des
Moines-based organizations are butting heads on the issue. Iowa
Citizens for Community Improvement and the Coalition to Support Iowa's
Farmers are engaged in an epic battle. Each believes a victory means a
more prosperous Iowa.
ICCI
contends corporate or large-scale agriculture is the state's death
knell. The CSIF's goal is to help farmers stay in business regardless
of size and to defend their honor. The CSIF introduced a new online
directory Tuesday to help farmers understand environmental regulations.
...ICCI views
To the ICCI, animals shouldn't be raised in modern confinement buildings.
The
group's leaders say producers focusing on volume - whether grain or
livestock - aren't family farmers but a detriment to Iowa's economy,
environment and social structure. Its focus now is to stop what they
consider factory farms - those that use confinement buildings to house
livestock.
"I think a hog factory is total confinement with a (manure) pit," said ICCI president Kurt Kelsey.
He
admits a few ICCI members raise livestock using confinements, but he
still believes the practice pollutes the air and water. He operates a
small sheep and grain farm near Iowa Falls.
The ICCI
says large livestock corporations like Smithfield Foods are the real
enemy of family farmers. However, the group makes no distinction
between Smithfield raising 14.5 million hogs a year in confinements or
a family raising 5,000 animals in confinements.
...CSIF views
Helping
producers understand new environmental laws and implementing needed
changes is the primary focus of the CSIF. To accomplish this, the group
launched STEER (Strategic Technical Environmental Education Resource)
Tuesday on its website.
It
includes a comprehensive checklist of information about livestock
production and reviews environmental rules and regulations, including
how to implement needed changes. The site contains management tools,
resources and contacts for farmers.
CSIF
executive director Tim Niess said that's the major difference between
the two organizations. The CSIF provides help for all farmers and the
ICCI does not, he said. Family farms vary dramatically in size, ranging
from one person to a group of relatives farming together.
(Click here to read the complete article.)
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