Your Donations Help Support MEA's Factory Farm Campaign!

In a day and age when Americans are increasingly disconnected from where our food comes from, Wisconsin still cherishes close ties to the land.  Even in urban Madison residents eagerly flock to farmers markets for locally grown food.  In Milwaukee dedicated people work to bring fresh food and community gardens to the most challenged areas. Whether urban or rural, a deep and abiding respect for agriculture is part of our collective consciousness.

Sadly, that respect has been abused and played upon by interests intent upon maximizing profits by industrializing agriculture as never before.  In a far cry from Wisconsin’s small-farm roots, more and more ‘factory farms’ are being constructed across the state.  There thousands of animals are crowded into hanger-like barns in inhumane, unsanitary conditions.

The damage from ‘factory farms’ also hits closer to home.  Let me share what else is at stake:

  • Water Pollution:  Manure run-off pollutes our lakes and rivers causing massive fish kills and toxic algae blooms. It contaminates our drinking water with nitrates and pathogens that can lead to fatal blood disorders and other life-threatening sicknesses.                                                 

  • Air Pollution:  Over 168 gases are emitted from ‘factory farm’ waste, including toxic chemicals, such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. Exposure to these chemicals can cause brain damage and chronic respiratory illnesses. ‘Factory farms’ also emit potent greenhouse gases and have been identified by the U.N. Environment Programme as a chief contributor to climate change.

  • Tainted Food and Antibiotic Resistant Disease:  ‘Factory farm’ animals are pumped up with antibiotics to promote faster growth and to compensate for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. Overuse of antibiotics creates antibiotic resistant bacteria that may be transferred from animals to people.  Resistant human diseases strongly linked to agriculture overuse of antibiotics include food poisoning caused by Salmonella and post-surgical infections caused by Enterococcus.

  • Devastated Rural Communities:   Rural communities are bearing the brunt of the foul odors and pollution that ‘factory farms’ create. According to a recent study put out by the Pew Charitable Trusts and John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, large-scale industrial farming increases the risk of “new or novel” viruses such as swine flu, which put not only workers and animals at risk of infection, but also increases the risk of disease by transmission to nearby communities. 

Let’s face it, ‘factory farms’ threaten environmental and public health.  We must do something about them!  

At Midwest Environmental Advocates -- Wisconsin’s only non-profit environmental law center -- we are at the forefront of efforts to protect communities across the state from the disastrous impacts of ‘factory farms’.  

We led the fight to secure a ban on landspreading of manure in winter months. We supported neighborhood groups working to save their wells and streams from pollution and we helped a family protect their children from manure poisoning their drinking water. 

Right now Midwest Environmental Advocates is representing a community fighting back against what may become Wisconsin’s biggest factory farm ever.  Planned for 8300 cows, this dairy will produce and store over 90 million gallons of manure and wastewater each year; only the cities of Milwaukee and Madison produce more biological waste.

We need your help to continue our important work to:

  • Educate the public about the environmental and public health risks of ‘factory farms;’

  • Advocate for stricter laws to regulate pollution from ‘factory farms’ and for changes to misguided public policies that have allowed for the predominance of ‘factory farms’ through subsidies at the public’s expense; and

  •  Litigate to enforce the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act against those ‘factory farms’ that are significant violators of our environmental laws.

Could you make a gift today in support of Midwest Environmental Advocates’s Factory Farm Campaign?

With appreciation,

Karen

Karen M. Schapiro
Midwest Environmental Advocates
Executive Director

P.S. You can now donate to MEA online through our secure server.