Des Moines Business Record, IA
10-08-06
Is this heaven? Only if you're a pig
By Beth Dalbey
bethdalbey@bpcdm.com
During a weekend drive through the countryside, my spirits were buoyant as I
surveyed the color palette that Iowa is at this time of year. Golden ash and red
maple trees provided a vibrant canopy over grass that late-summer rains had
made uncharacteristically lush and green, combining for a view so spectacular
that my pulse quickened. "Is this heaven?" I said to myself, reciting the nowfamous movie line. "No. It's Iowa."
Then, like a thief, the stench from one of the 3,000 or so CAFOs (Concentrated
Animal Feeding Operations) in Iowa assaulted my nostrils and stole my breath. I
quickly closed my car's ventilation system, but the offensive odor had already
filled it. The longer I held my breath, the more I empathized with people who say
their ability to enjoy their property has been compromised by hog confinements
nearby.
There's also increasing evidence that people who live near large hog
confinements are more susceptible to respiratory ailments. A joint study by the
University of Iowa and Iowa State University in 2002 concluded that although
confinement workers are at risk for chronic respiratory diseases and dysfunction
from exposure to complex mixtures of particulates, gases and vapors, those risks
cannot be extrapolated to a community health risk from those emissions.
I'm no stranger to the smells of agriculture. They're not always pleasant. I'm also
no stranger to the economic importance of agriculture. Iowa's pork industry, for
example, is responsible for about $12 billion annually in economic activity,
supports about 65,000 jobs annually and generates $70 million annually in state
and local taxes. No one, save a handful of animal-rights extremists, would argue
the state would be better off if it got out of the business of raising pork.
The critical question isn't about whether Iowa should have a pork industry, but
who should decide where the big industrialized hog factories are built.
Proponents of the status quo say local zoning would impede a new generation of
family farmers because there are few, if any, places in Iowa that would welcome
a confinement with thousands of pigs in stanchions so narrow they can't turn
around.
They are saying that with a straight face, despite estimates by the Sierra Club
that for every CAFO established, 10 family farms are either eliminated or forced
to enter into corporate contracts to pay for the investments in buildings they
made before pork production was shifted to the hands of a few.
The Sierra Club isn't alone in championing local zoning over confinement
operations. Everyday Iowans are joining the chorus for reform. Iowa Department
of Natural Resources Director Jeff Vonk's recent bold statements undoubtedly
help. He pointed out the incongruity of a Legislature that supports further
restrictions on the government's ability to acquire private property for public
purposes, yet opposes local control over where CAFOs can be built - both basic
property rights issues.
Vonk is right, but his hands are tied. Unless a confinement is causing
environmental damage, he's powerless to intervene, and that's one of the
reasons he supports local zoning over CAFOs.
As the state's leaders look for more ways, such as the Iowa Great Places
program and water-quality initiatives, to improve Iowa's quality of life, it's
inconceivable that the debate hasn't naturally extended to include the effects of
hog confinements on those efforts.
Sitting in your suburban home or downtown loft where you're safe from stench,
you may be saying that rural Iowans should solve their own problems. But they
don't have the tools, and it'll take the support of urban legislators to provide them.
Whether they support local control over CAFOs is an important question to ask
legislative candidates, both urban and rural.
That's what I think. What do you think? Send us an 550 to 600-word essay to
editor@bpcdm.com and we'll continue the debate in our guest opinion spot on
the opposite page.
Beth Dalbey can be reached at bethdalbey@bpcdm.com.