Wednesday, October 15 at 7:30 pm
Fairfield Arts & Convention Center
200 N. Main Street, Fairfield
Iowa’s laws regulating industrial livestock production are minimal and heavily weighted in favor of factory farms. The cost to people and the environment? Plenty. Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch will address the failure of our political and regulatory system to protect communities and the environment and what’s necessary to remedy this failure at upcoming Jefferson County Farmers & Neighbors, Inc. (JFAN) Annual Meeting.
It’s Time to Change ‘Business As Usual’ will be held on Wednesday, October 15, 2014 at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center, 200 North Main Street, Fairfield, beginning at 7:30 pm.
Hauter will explain how a handful of powerful agribusiness corporations have profoundly influenced the political system, lobbying for US agricultural policies that overwhelmingly favor industrial livestock production. This has become “business as usual.”
Hauter will address how Iowans can and must transform this situation from the grassroots level to “business that benefits all” – policies that favor healthy food production, small, independent farms, and regulations that actually protect communities and the environment.
In addition to Hauter, key members of the Charlie Speer and Richard Middleton law firms will join Fairfield attorney David E. Sykes to provide an important legal update on CAFO activities in Jefferson and surrounding counties.
Jefferson County is facing a serious threat from an influx of new CAFOs. China’s demand for cheap pork combined with low corn and soy prices is fueling significant expansion throughout the state. Southeast Iowa is particularly targeted. The Speer/Middleton/Sykes legal team will address what is being done to protect communities from additional CAFOs development.
An avid environmental advocate, Wenonah Hauter is the Executive Director of Food & Water Watch, a national and influential environmental group whose stances include opposition to factory farming in favor of sustainable, small-scale agriculture. For over 25 years, Hauter has worked extensively on food, water, energy, and environmental issues at the national, state and local level. She is a skilled and accomplished organizer, having lobbied and developed grassroots field strategy and action plans.
Hauter is author of Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America, called by Publishers Weekly, “a meticulously researched tour de force…” in which she examines the corporate consolidation and control over our food system and what it means for farmers and consumers.
The Charlie Speer and Richard Middleton law firms have been representing people impacted by factory farms since 2000. Environmental attorneys Speer and Middleton have a reputation for consistently achieving multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts against CAFO owners and integrators, representing clients on a contingency-fee basis.
The JFAN Annual Meeting is co-sponsored by JFAN’s community partners, Sierra Club Leopold Group, solar powered KRUU 100.1 FM, Little Village Magazine, and Radish Magazine.
Admission is free, however a donation of $5 is welcome to support JFAN’s mission.
JFAN is a tax-exempt, nonprofit educational foundation that works to protect the quality of life for Jefferson County residents. Since 2005, our efforts have successfully helped to deter the proliferation of CAFOs in the county. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.