Register NOW for the 2017 Factory Farm Summit in Ocean City, MD, this December 7-10th

Greetings from all of us at SRAP and happy Thanksgiving!

As we head into the holiday season, we take a moment to give thanks to our families, friends, and supporters like you who continue to help make our efforts possible. We also give thanks for the responsible farmers who are striving to build a better agricultural system by producing healthful food and adding value to our rural communities across the country.

This past month, we received requests for help through our SOS hotline from communities in South Dakota, Kentucky and Oklahoma. In Illinois, we participated in a State Senate sub-committee meeting on CAFO regulations in Illinois, where we provided oral testimony highlighting major deficiencies and comparisons from other states with stricter standards, local control and thriving livestock industries.The grassroots mobilizing work we’ve been doing there continues to generate momentum for change.

We also have major news coming from the Eastern Shore as Mountaire’s plant in  Millsboro, Delaware has been cited by state officials for polluting groundwater. As part of the citation, Mountaire is also being required to provide neighbors with bottled water or drinking water treatment.  We’ve been hard at work supporting the Millsboro community and this is a major win that holds Mountaire accountable for its actions.

Meanwhile, in Milton, Delaware residents are facing a different story as state officials just approved Artesian and Allen-Harim’s wastewater plan which will allow Allen-Harim to pump its wastewater from its poultry operation into a 90-million gallon storage lagoon near Milton residents. Despite community opposition, the plan to build the 90-million gallon storage lagoon will move forward. The community will have time to appeal the decision.

In the Midwest, a new study done by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue in response to property tax appeals filed by citizens found that property values have declined in areas near large dairy CAFOs. This is the first time that we are aware of the state of Wisconsin or any Upper-Midwestern state conducting such a study.

We supported Clearwater, Kansas residents, as they said NO  to Tyson at a recent public meeting. We also helped support a street rally in Witchita. With Tyson recently pleading guilty to Clean Water Act violations for discharge violations at its Aurora, Missouri plant, word has begun to spread that the company’s proposed Kansas plant is on hold. This week Tyson has announced plans for a new plant in Tennessee. While this doesn’t mean Tyson has ruled out a second location in Kansas, it’s a sign the public opposition has slowed development in the state.

In the Southwest, working with the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club and Rio Valle Concerned Citizens, we helped support powerful public testimony by community leaders at a hearing on proposed changes to the New Mexico Water Quality Act. Several partner environmental public interest groups engaged in the rulemaking argued that the changes will impact public input and transparency and the number of regulated pollutants allowed in the state’s ground and surface waters.

We hope your Thanksgiving is blessed with family and friends and a table plentiful of the bounties from the farmers who raised animals in an ecological and socially responsible manner.

In solidarity,

Kendra Kimbirauskas

CEO, SRAP

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for the 2017 Factory Farm Summit here. There’s still time to register.

When Anthony Scarpa, 69, and his wife moved from New Jersey to Delaware to retire in November 2016, they never imagined they’d be moving their lives to the center of a public fight to protect their water and health from the corporate interests of a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) and a water treatment facility. Yet that’s exactly what has happened in a messy saga that continues to unfold, pitting the health and welfare of Milton, Delaware residents against the long-term impacts of an industrial poultry operation that threatens their health, their air and water quality and the property they worked so hard for.

As a retired real estate broker, Anthony was immediately attracted to Milton’s rustic scenery, with its open farm fields and woodlands. It reminded the Scarpas of the small town they lived in back in New Jersey. They bought a lot and began building their dream home a place where they could enjoy their retirement in the kind of peace and health that only a rural town can offer.

Read more here.

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No Harm? No Fowl?

Author Maryn McKenna Joins Us for the Factory Farm Summit

If you’re looking for a great read, check out Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats by Maryn McKenna. We are pleased to have award-winning author and journalist Maryn McKenna at this years Factory FarmSummit where she will be signing copies of her book! McKenna, author of best-selling titles Superbug and Beating Back the Devil, turns her attention to the role of antibiotics in industrial factory farming and how it has changed the way we eat – and not necessarily for the better.

Big Chicken has already received excellent reviews from critics:

Meticulously researched and thoughtfully organized, Big Chicken  is an absorbing read. McKenna begins and ends the book with scenes of me stuffing my face with delicious chicken.  Her chicken saga is a true-life cautionary tale she calls a story of good intentions and unintended consequences.  She hopes it will attract general readers like those who helped make Fast Food Nation  (2001) and The Omnivore’s Dilemma  (2006) best sellers. 

 

Just a friendly reminder that #GivingTuesday is next Tuesday! It is a global day of giving that kicks off the charitable season. Your generous support next Tuesday will help us work directly with communities that are most heavily impacted by factory farms. You can help SRAP continue to provide free assistance to communities by donating here. You can also support us by using Amazon Smile  to do your holiday shopping this season. Just select SRAP as your charity of choice and Amazon will give 0.5% of any purchases to our organization.

Upcoming Events:

Greenfield, Iowa,  November 30-December 1st: SRAP’s Diane Rosenberg will be a panelist at the Iowa Farmer’s Union Convention where she will join Jen Terry, Executive Director of the Iowa Environmental Council, for a panel discussion on water quality in Iowa. For more information, please visit:  iowafarmersunion.org/upcoming-events/events-calendar/