Goldman Prize Winner Lynn Henning Joins SRAP

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Media Contacts:  Steve Masar, SRAP  p: 415-420-7527  e: media@sraproject.org

 

Goldman Prize Winner Lynn Henning Joins Factory Farms Fighter SRAP

Michigan family farmer and anti-CAFO champion brings her energy and impact to national work for small farms and rural communities

 MOLALLA, OR JANUARY 24, 2014 Today, Socially Responsible Agricultural Project (SRAP) announced that Lynn Henning — nationally recognized for her efforts exposing the dangers of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and the government agencies that sanction them — is the newest member of their national coordinator staff. Henning was awarded the prestigious 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize (North America) for her exceptional grassroots work as a leading voice, investigator and activist challenging the State of Michigan’s industrial agriculture producers and government agencies acting in violation of state and local water and air quality laws.

 SRAP is a national organization working in communities across the nation to aid, organize and provide scientific research and legal support to those experiencing the dangerous health and environmental effects of unregulated, unmonitored industrial factory farm operations.

“We are fortunate and thrilled to have Lynn Henning join our ranks,” said SRAP CEO Kendra Kimbirauskas. “Lynn brings an amazing level of expertise and first-hand experience on the harmful effects of CAFOs and how individuals and communities can successfully fight back against them. She’ll be a powerful asset for our community partners across the nation doing battle against industrial agriculture and ineffective legislatures. 

As owners of Lenawee County corn and soybean farms, Henning and her husband witnessed the rapid spread of CAFOs close to their family farms in the early 2000s. For over a decade she has acted as a community lightning rod — organizing neighbors, researching unlawful CAFO operations, conducting aerial mapping of unmonitored CAFO facilities, informing federal and state regulators of CAFO pollution spills, and gathering water samples that provided proof of unlawful waste discharges that were damaging to public health and the local environment. Her groundbreaking work generated the issuance of hundreds of water quality citations and the creation of stronger factory farm enforcement protocols.

The work I have done to-date was a product of government officials not doing their jobs. And many are still not,  said Henning. Far too many communities across the country are experiencing what we have — the poisoning of our water and the endangering of our health. It’s an epidemic of reckless behavior by all involved and I look forward to expanding my work with SRAP to challenge and  end these unlawful and corrupt attacks on our rural communities. 

The Goldman Prize is awarded annually to six individuals from six global regions for their invaluable contributions to environmentalism and for the impact they have made for the public good in their communities. As the 2010 North American prize winner, Henning was recognized by Goldman for her individual initiative in the effort to shed light on the health-threatening hidden workings of CAFOs in Michigan, and for her effect on changing state policies toward more lasting and sustainable industrial agriculture operations.

As a small family farmer and a grassroots environmental activist, Lynn Henning is a perfect addition to the SRAP family,  said Lani Alo, Program Officer at the Goldman Environmental Prize. Her experience as a farmer and years of campaigning against CAFOs in her backyard gives her a deep-rooted knowledge of sustainable agriculture. We look forward to seeing Lynn continue to inspire efforts to move food production away from factory operations and back into the hands of sustainable family farmers. 

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 About Socially Responsible Agricultural Project (SRAP)

Socially Responsible Agricultural Project provides free, professional assistance to communities working to protect themselves from factory farms and their impact on local communities and populations, and to those who are trying to reclaim agriculture by producing and marketing sustainable agricultural goods.   More information can be found at www.sraproject.org.