Factory farm dairies not right for S.D. By Bill Du Bois What kind of future do you want for rural South Dakota?
Gov. Mike Rounds and Secretary of Agriculture Larry Gabriel picture giant industrial style dairy farms up and down what they call the I-29 Dairy Corridor. They suggest big is better. Producers are told they should expand or go out of business. Obviously, farmers are listening. We have lost dairy cows at twice the rate as before expansion efforts started in August 2001. We are down from 102,000 cows to 79,000. More than 600 farm families have been driven out of business. That's $24 million lost in household income. Lured by promises of big feedlot farms by state officials, some South Dakota dairy processors are now refusing to pick up milk from 50 to 150 head dairy farms. In addition, even when farmers pool and deliver their milk, the dairies refuse to give them the same price as large farms -- even if it arrives in the same volume. Most of the opposition to large industrial style feedlots comes from other farmers who don't want their rural lifestyle destroyed. They don't want to have to arrange their chores around which way the wind is blowing the stink from their neighbors. They don't want their property values trashed or their family's health put at risk. I talked to a man from a neighboring state after a workshop we did on factory farms. He said a large feedlot had moved in next door. "I haven't been able to open my windows for eight years. If I just walk to the barn, my clothes, my hat are soaked with the odor. I called a realtor to sell but no one will buy. They have ruined my life." The simple truth is if you crowd too many animals into too small a space, you're asking for trouble. They only way these outfits can be profitable is if they manage to shift the costs and the risks on to taxpayers and neighbors. The two new dairy feedlots near Flandreau, S.D., will put out more waste each and every day than the entire city of Sioux Falls. One environmental accident can cost millions. Liquid manure lagoons are a disaster waiting to happen and in South Dakota they must only be built to withstand a 25-year water event. That's a 4 1/2 inch rain. Feedlot proponents say, there's nothing to fear. But you've probably heard the old saying, "Manure happens" (or something like that). Things go wrong. What looks good on paper doesn't always work out in real life. Taxpayers shouldn't have to assume the risks of giant feedlots doing business. The feedlot propagandists are spending $100,000's telling us large feedlots are the future of the family farm. Don't you believe it. These people may have families, but this is not family farming. These are industrial operations. How many family farms do you know that borrow $10 million and hire 20 low wage laborers to do the actual work? If you want to see the kind of future factory farms will bring, take a look at hog farming in Iowa. Over the last thirty years, the number of hogs has remained about the same but the number of farmers has been drastically reduced. There are better ways to do economic development. Rather than spending tax money to brainwash people into supporting factory farms, it's time we asked small and medium sized farmers what would help them.
Du Bois is a Brookings S.D. resident and former SDSU sociologist who holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Oklahoma State University. A management consultant, Du Bois has worked on economic development issues in Iowa and California. He is a founding member of I-29ers For Quality of Life, a group that has held anti-factory farm workshops in eastern South Dakota and is circulating petitions in Brookings County calling for a two year moratorium on large CAFO’s Recently, he formed the Institute For Rural Democracy and is the group’s director.
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