The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.6           February 10, 1997 
 
 
200 Protest 'Factory Farms' In Iowa  

BY SIMONE BERG AND MARGE TOWER
DES MOINES - Holding signs saying "Family Farms, Not Factory Farms" and "Greed and Hog Factories Stink," some 200 farmers, their families, and supporters demonstrated in the Iowa state capitol after Governor Terry Branstad gave his annual address on January 14 to open the 1997 state legislative session. The focus of this rally, sponsored by the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI), was to protest state government policies that promote the hog containment facilities.

Larry Ginter, who raises hogs near Marshalltown, Iowa, chaired the rally. Ginter won an important victory this summer against state government attempts to make him remove a sign, posted on his property, condemning big-business hog farms and Branstad's support for them.

Large-scale hog factories, run by capitalist farmers and corporations, raise thousands of hogs at a time and produce so much manure that the waste products threaten to contaminate the water table. Many people get their drinking water from wells on farms near the hog factories. The manure lagoons, often near houses, farms, and roads, emit powerful fumes of ammonia and sulfer compounds that are a health hazard, in addition to being extremely noxious.

The size of these facilities makes it difficult for small producers to compete. Two speakers at the rally said that in 1996, some 4,000 small hog producers went out of business. This affects all of the other small businesses that sell to small family farms, like feed sellers and veterinarians.

Larry Lewis, who raises 600 hogs near Creston, Iowa, said he had never been at a protest of any sort before. "Maybe I can be one more person protesting what these politicians are doing," he told the Militant. Lewis said he is concerned about encroachment on surrounding family hog farms by Farmland Industries in southwestern Iowa.

The big hog producers have received a helping hand from the Iowa Legislature with House File 519, a law passed in 1995. While this law did increase constraints on capitalist hog farmers - modestly increasing the distance required between manure lagoons and nearby houses and farms, for example - H.F. 519 contains a nuisance clause which makes it very difficult for an individual to sue a factory farm to force them to comply with protective legislation, including on pollution. The law also explicitly asserts that local jurisdictions have no zoning power pertaining to the hog factories, and that the pro-agribusiness Iowa Department of Natural Resources controls such matters. A containment facility with less than 5,000 hogs does not need to meet any special zoning requirements.

Harold Weidner, who farms in Glidden, Iowa, said he was at the rally "to save the family farms and the environment." A new large hog factory has been set up close to the airport in his area.

After the rally, participants jammed into a conference room to confront state legislative leaders members belonging to the Senate Agriculture Committee, most of whom are Democrats. The exchange was often sharp, with farmers taking issue with legislators who sided with the large- scale hog producers. The weekend after the rally, a Des Moines Register editorial called for stricter environmental constraints on pollution of the water supply in central and northern Iowa by the hog factory operators. Ginter told the Militant, "I was encouraged by the turnout. As this crisis deepens, I think we'll see more people come out. The fight is here, and we're not going to go away."  
 
 
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