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Dunn County Passes Moratorium to Protect Local Economy & Environment from Corporate Farms PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Robert Kraig   
Friday, 21 October 2016 14:31

dairy_cow_merry_go_roundCitizen Action of Western Wisconsin members urged Dunn County board to pass a moratorium after a 7,150 cow corporate farm proposed in Rock Falls


MENOMONIE, WI - The Dunn County Board passed a 6 month moratorium Thursday night on any new large scale corporate farms of 1,000 animals or more. This vote came at the urging of small farmers and Citizen Action Organizing Cooperative of Western Wisconsin members. The legislative action is in response to the proposal by Cranberry Creek to introduce a 7,150 cow industrial farm 25 minutes away from downtown Eau Claire.

Corporate farms, known as “Contained Animal Feeding Operations” (CAFOs), represent a major threat to a local economy composed of family farms, and to water and air quality. The preservation of the small farm economy is also essential for making the transition to a more sustainable economy that does not lead to damaging climate change. CAFOs produce more of the kind of pollution that contributes to global warming.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, industrial agriculture threatens “the backbone of US agriculture, medium-sized farms...a trend that has been bad for the economies of rural communities.” When the small farm economy is undermined, people have less money in their pockets and farmers have less to invest in their operations. As a consequence, fewer goods and services are purchased from local businesses, creating a downward economic spiral. Corporate farms tend to purchase products and send profits out of the regional economy, and produce far fewer family supporting incomes.

According to the National Farmers Union CAFO’s endanger local water quality, threatening human health and family farms that rely on clean water for their operations. “Contaminated groundwater poses a significant threat to the daily lives of Americans, as a portion of the population relies on groundwater for their drinking water, especially in rural communities.”

CAFOs are also a threat to global climate. A 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Corporate farms are much more damaging than small farms. The methane releases from animals on corporate farms are 70 times more damaging per ton to the earth’s atmosphere than CO2. If we are going to create an economy that limits global temperature increases, we need to move more towards small scale agriculture of the kind that is still prevalent in Western Wisconsin. The establishment of large scale corporate farms goes in the wrong direction.

“The Citizen Action Organizing Cooperative of Western Wisconsin wants to thank the Dunn County Board of Supervisors for their thoughtful consideration and vote for a moratorium on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations,” said Jeff Smith, Western Wisconsin Organizer for Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “The six month moratorium creates breathing space to assure that any decision takes into account the views of local residents, and promotes the economic and environmental interests of the region.”

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Citizen Action of Wisconsin is a nonpartisan issue focused coalition of individuals and organizations committed to achieving social, economic, and environmental justice.

Find out more about Citizen Action at www.citizenactionwi.org

 
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