North Dakota

Information and Resources

America’s Animal Factories: How States Fail to Prevent Pollution from Livestock Waste

This Natural Resources Defense Council report describes the environmental and public health impacts of pollution generated by factory farms. Includes activist contacts and resources.

Animal Waste: An Emerging Water Quality Issue (1998)

Anti-Corporate Farming Laws in the Heartland (1997)

Impact of Anti-Corporate Farming Laws in North Dakota

Decrease in number of farms from 31,500 (1997) to 31,000 (1998)
Land in farms decreased from 39.7 million acres (1997) to 39.5 million acres (1998)
Average size of farms increased from 1,221 acres in 1993 to 1,274 acres in 1998
The number of Small Sales Class farms increased from 6,700 farms (1993) to 8,200 (1998), while Middle Sales Class farms decreased from 16,800 to 14,000 farms; Large Sales Class farms decreased from 9,500 to 8,800 farms
Source: Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

State Information

Provides state legislative information along with documents related to state and local government. (Washburn University School of Law)

US Farms – State Fact Sheets

Links for each state, with current information about farm size, financial status, rural employment, land use, and more. (USDA)

Water Quality in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Iowa, and North Dakota, 1995-98

Water quality assessment reports from the US Geological Survey.

State and Local Government

Groups

Dakota Resource Council was formed in 1978 to protect North Dakota’s land, air, water, rural communities, and agricultural economy. DRC works for the preservation of family farms, enforcement of corporate farming laws, soil and water conservation, regulation of coal mining and oil and gas development, protection of groundwater and clean air, renewable energy, and sound management of solid and toxic wastes. The mission of this nonprofit, grassroots activist organization is to form enduring, democratic local groups that empower people to influence decision-making processes that affect their lives.

Plains Justice

A Great Plains public-interest law center working as advocates for clean, safe, and healthy communities. They’ve recently release a report titled “Public Heath and Livestock Confinements: Identifying Threats to Human Health” that’s a valuable resource to anyone dealing with the effects of CAFOs in their community.

Socially Responsible Agricultural Project