Rural Regions

Factory farms make terrible neighbors. Indeed, nowhere are the devastating impacts of factory farms more apparent than in nearby communities.

In addition to polluting local streams, rivers, lakes, and groundwater, contaminating drinking water wells, emitting hazardous air pollutants, and inundating surrounding communities with nauseating odors, factory farms compromise the health of neighbors, devalue nearby properties, destroy local economies, and adversely affect the quality of life in nearby communities. In short, factory farms ruin surrounding communities.

Featured

Industrialized Farming and Its Relationship to Community Well-Being: An Update of a 2000 Report by Linda Lobao

This report summarizes the results of existing research about the impacts of industrialized agriculture on rural communities. Approximately 82% of the 56 studies reviewed in the report conclude that industrial farming operations have adverse effects on indicators of community well-being. (Stofferahn, Curtis S., The University of North Dakota. September 2006.) You can also read Lobao’s 2000 report.

General Resources

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Proximate Property Values

Article by John Kilpatrick of Mundy Associates, the leading real estate appraisal and stigma analysts in the US. The article notes that property located next to a CAFO is devalued by 50% to 90%. It also finds, as other studies have, that value loss is an inverse function of distance, that newer, nicer residences lose more value, and that value loss is a function of property use. A farm located close to a CAFO will “lose value due to diminished productivity and comparative marketability to other farm lands.” The article is not available online – call the Appraisal Institute at 312-335-4427 for a copy of the July 2001 Journal. (The Appraisal Journal, July, 2001.)

The Corporate-Controlled Factory System is Inherently Flawed

Subtitled: “There is a better way – independent family farmers.” From a December 1998 speech from the Executive Director of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center. (In Motion Magazine.)

The Fantasy of the Clip Art Farm: Notes from the New Rural Landscape

An article in Dissent magazine that debunks the myth of the red barn-one silo rural landscape and explains some of the contemporary problems ravaging rural communities. (Dissent Magazine, Summer 2002 – In process of adding Summer 2002 to archives.)

Farmer’s Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG)

A nonprofit law center dedicated to providing legal services to family farmers and rural communities to help keep family farmers on the land.

Greasing the Way for Factory Bacon

Corporate hog operations and their lagoons threaten the financial and physical health of family farms. (Sustainable Farming Connection, 1997.)

Hog Farmers Want an End to the Mandatory Pork Checkoff

The mandatory checkoff is a producer tax, paid on every hog sold in the US. Farmers quoted in this article believe that the primary recipient of these funds (the National Pork Producers Council) serves the interests of large corporate farms and processors, but not those of small producers. (In Motion Magazine.)

Livestock Factories

The Public Trust Alliance, part of the Michigan Land Use Institute, works with rural families and communities around Michigan to develop a more trustworthy complaint response system to livestock factories, a Right to Farm Act that no longer shields industrial operations from legitimate nuisance suits, and continued local zoning powers over this new and imposing scale of agriculture operation.

The New Culture of Rural America

Explores the changes in rural America and farming, from the family farmer to the onslaught of agribusiness. (The American Prospect, November 2002.)

New Rules: Nurturing Rural Communities

This section of the New Rules offers information on agricultural policies and a library of local, state, national and international rules that nurture vibrant and diversified rural communities.

Pigs, Profits, and Rural Communities

Information about a 1998 book that “illuminates the processes and consequences of agricultural industrialization, particularly within the swine production industry.” Contributors include a former US senator, farmers, a veterinarian, a medical psychologist, an agricultural economist, a biological ecologist, a farm organization president, and anthropologists.

The Questions Rural Communities Should Ask About CAFOs

After meeting with residents of rural areas in the US and Canada for ten years and reviewing CAFO research data from a wide variety of sources, University of Missouri Professor John E. Ikerd determined that not a single community where CAFOs represent a significant segment of the local economy is currently considered a model of economic success or prosperity.

Groups

Center for Rural Affairs

A Nebraska-based group committed to building communities that stand for social justice, economic opportunity, and environmental stewardship. Offers many types of publications for a nominal charge, including information on livestock, sustainable agriculture, impacts of technology, beginning and family farmers, and rural communities.

Ecological Farming Association

Nonprofit educational organization that promotes ecologically sound agriculture and organizes special events that bring people together from all over the world to share ideas and experiences producing healthful food from a healthy earth.

Land Stewardship Project

Works for environmental and social justice in rural America by educating rural and urban people about the ethics of farmland stewardship through cultural programs and by creating a farmer-to-farmer network to help farmers implement sustainable farming methods. The organization is located in Minnesota and concentrates on the Upper Midwest region, but the site contains information relevant to all parts of the country.

National Catholic Rural Life Conference

Working for family farms, a healthy environment, and vibrant rural communities since 1923. One of the oldest faith-based organizations of its type, they continue to oppose the industrialization of agriculture and factory farms while promoting sustainable agriculture.

The 80-55 Coalition

The 80-55 Coalition is a growing nonpartisan group of advocacy, policy and research organizations dedicated to strengthening rural America. Works toward educating policymakers about rural issues to ensure economic prosperity, increased cultural and social contributions, and the preservation of open spaces that intrinsically define “rural” areas.

Reports

The CAFO and Depopulation of Rural Agricultural Areas: Implications for Rural Economies in Canada and the US

This paper explores the economic reasons why the presence of CAFOs is likely to contribute to the depopulation of rural agricultural areas as the communities in those areas extricate themselves from the severe problems of the farming sector. (Dr. William J. Weida, Colorado College Department of Economics, May 2002.)

Economic and Fiscal Impacts: A Case Study of Seven Recently Constructed Dairies in Van Wert County and Paulding County, Ohio

This study evaluates the economic impact of seven new dairies, and determines that it’s very low. The present value of the total economic impact of four of the diaries is about $150,000, and the other three have a total present value of about $1 million – these amounts could be gained by virtually any economic development program of any kind. (Ohio State University Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics, May 5, 2003)

The Effects of Open Space on Residential Property Values

This study reveals that being close to pasture land increases the value of a residence more than being next to park or preserve, thus showing the importance of having farms around communities. (Ohio State University Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics, 2002.)

The Impact of Agriculture on Children at Risk in Rural Missouri

Rural communities in which a high percentage of residents are employed in independent agriculture create a positive social environment for children, while communities in which industrial agriculture employs many residents place children at risk, according to this Department of Economic Development report. Comparing child-at-risk index scores, the author finds that independent agriculture and a high percentage of residents with college degrees lower a county’s child risk score, while corporate agriculture and a history of poverty elevate the risk score. He also notes that agriculture is the only rural profession that appears to affect child risk level. (David J. Peters, Missouri Department of Economic Development, 2001.)

Industrialized Farming and Its Relationship to Community Well-Being: An Update of a 2000 Report by Linda Lobao

Livestock and Human Needs

Thoughts about the effects of intensive animal production on communities, from a global perspective. (World Animal Review, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 1998.)

Purchasing and Sales Patterns of Ohio Dairy Farmers

A 2002 dairy survey examining local spending by dairies. The results indicate that while small dairies spend about 80-90% locally, large dairies (over 200 head) only spend about 45% locally. (Ohio State University.)

Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America

Produced by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, this comprehensive report provides a detailed description of the detrimental impacts of factory farms on public health, the environment, animal welfare, and rural communities. The report also includes the Commission’s six primary recommendations for improving the sustainability of animal agriculture in the future. 2007.

Swept Away: Chronic Hardship and Fresh Promise on the Rural Great Plains

The third part in a Center for Rural Affairs report series focusing on the regional economies of rural Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota over the 30-year period from 1970 to 2000. The data reveal that these areas have experienced chronically higher poverty rates than urban areas in the same states, with no significant improvement since 1970. The authors discuss trends in rural poverty and propose policy recommendations for meeting the needs of rural communities. (Center for Rural Affairs, June 2003.)

Vertical Coordination of Agriculture in Farming-Dependent Areas

This report examines (1) the various forces driving the forms of vertical coordination, (2) their evolution and effects on agriculture and rural communities, and (3) policy options to help rural communities cope with change (Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, Task Force Report No. 137, March 2001 by Luther G. Tweeten).

The Wasting of Rural New York State: Factory Farms and Public Health

Produced by the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition and the Sierra Club, this report describes the adverse impact of factory farms on the environment, public health, and local economies of communities throughout New York State. The report includes profiles of families and communities that have been directly affected by factory farms.

Why Invest in Rural America – And How? A Critical Public Policy Question for the 21st Century

This paper provides a critical analysis of public policy in rural areas and proposes economic changes. (Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, 2001.)