IATP Hog Report - Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Section 5
made up of the trust and reciprocity among community members that
often takes generations to build.
Contrary to the claims of corporate hog factory owners and their
supporters, in most cases it is not city dwellers moving to the country and
imposing their unreasonable demands on ordinary farmers that are the
problem. In most cases the people who feel the strongest impacts from hog
factories are people who have lived in their rural homes for most, if not
all, of their lives, many of whom farm or have farmed with livestock, as
well. It is the hog factories that have moved in and made their lives
miserable. When ravaged communities attempt to institute safeguards, the
factories may fight them or they may move on to areas with fewer
regulations, in a pattern some have called "pollution shopping."
Across the country, rural citizens have coped with regulatory inertia by
becoming overnight experts on water pollution, air pollution,
environmental law, other states' animal factory problems, animal welfare,
food safety, zoning, world trade, legislative action, and other issues
relevant to their fight. They have traveled hundreds of miles in a month to
attend meetings, hearings, rallies, and conferences. Phone bills have
soared as they reached out to find support from others with similar
experiences, mobilized their neighbors, contacted their legislators, and
looked for studies and public documents relevant to their situation. They
have become public speakers, lobbyists, researchers, and consultants. But
they have done so at heavy personal costs and have often realized that a
successful outcome is not always guaranteed.
Members of one small, neighborhood group in a southern Minnesota
county spent over $100,000 in cash outlays over several years and
countless hours in personal time in an unsuccessful fight to get the
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to bring a turkey manure
composting site into compliance with state anti-pollution laws. 6 The site
was allowed to operate for years without a permit. Although now
permitted by MPCA, the owner continues to violate state laws and best
management practices. The site has polluted neighbors' wells and created
an on-going odor and air pollution problem. After a dozen years fighting
to protect their health and quality of life, the citizens' resources are
depleted. Calls to the MPCA about odor and poor management at the site
go unanswered. The composting site is classified as a feedlot by the
MPCA, even though no animals live there, rather than as an industrial site
which it more closely resembles. If it were classified an industrial site,
stricter environmental standards would apply.
After five years of struggle with the MPCA, Julie Jansen of Olivia,
Minnesota, and her neighbors were vindicated by a Minnesota Department
of Health (MDH) investigation of data that the MPCA collected during
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