- Art Staed, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, is the state rep.
Iowa has the highest concentration of confined hogs in the country, collectively producing the greatest amount of food. More than 72 billion metric tons of manureA year. It can be applied to land, by spraying, or neglected, and ends up in our waterways. This manure can jeopardize ecosystems as well as drinking water. Iowa is also home one of the world’s most successful factory farms. most endangered riversThe Raccoon is a drinking water source for more than half a million Iowans.
I will not allow my state to be sacrificed for the sake of corporations making quick buck. As far as Im concerned, Iowans deserve a clean environment. It’s time that our elected officials forced these multi-billion dollar corporations to clean up the mess they have made of our environment, and rural communities.
Food & Water Watch and I are working together to introduce legislation that would immediately prohibit factory farms. This is the fifth year Iowans have fought for legislation to end corporate ags grip on their state. The 63% of Iowans who support ending factory farm expansionAccording to a Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future poll, these people are becoming more powerful. We are building a movement and this year we have gone further than ever before.
The 2022 CAFO Moratorium Act would put an immediate halt to the expansion or new construction of factory farms in order to protect our communities, climate, quality of life, and future. But that is not the end.
Iowa’s contract farmers have been trapped by Big Ags over the past decades. Tyson and Iowa Select, two large agribusinesses, control everything from the livestock and feed to the farm. These same companies also determine everything from the feed schedules and the prices farmers pay for their product. But, ultimately, it’s the farmers who are responsible if something goes wrong.
There are always problems. There were a total of 16 reported manure spillsin the state. In each case, the farmer was responsible for paying and not the corporate integrator. Fines of thousands of dollarsFor their pollution. This is not true.
My legislation would end this injustice. The bill gives the Department of Natural Resources greater control over factory farms and requires that corporations who created this polluting system be held responsible for any damages. Iowa farmers raise more than 3,000 dollarsThe livestock that is subject to production contracts should not have to bear the consequences of policies passed down by large agribusinesses.
My bill would end corporate ags’ predatory growth in Iowa, address our water quality crisis, as well as correct the unfair treatment of contract farmers. Iowa legislators must stop supplying dirty water to the industry and hold agribusiness corporations accountable for their environmental degradation. I appeal to my fellow legislators for the passage of the 2022 CAFO Motrin Bill and that this year’s debate on Iowans’ fundamental right to a clean environment be closed.
Art Staed, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, is the state rep.
