Vox and DM Register: Two Powerful Articles on CAFOs Plus a Must-Read Blog Post by Dr. Chris Jones

Vox: The Power and Influence of Iowa Select

Vox.com recently published an excellent article on Iowa Select, the largest CAFO corporation in Iowa, that includes a good history of the growth of the CAFO industry in this state. You can read it below:

The Hog Barons

How Iowa’s largest hog producer courted power, turned farming into a numbers game, and transformed the American heartland

By Charlie Mitchell and Austin Frerick

April 19, 2021

“Jeff Hansen, who owns Iowa’s largest hog operation, brought about 5 million pigs to market last year. Each one spent its entire life in a windowless metal shed called a confinement. Passing clusters of the massive sheds on the rural highways, you wouldn't imagine that a standard confinement holds almost 2,500 pigs -- unless the wind wafted the thick stench of manure in your direction." READ MORE

Des Moines Register Editorial: What Will It Take for Iowans to Demand Water Quality Changes?

The Des Moines Register editorial on Iowa’s polluted waterways reports that the Raccoon River, a source of drinking water for over half a million people, is now on the nation’s top 10 most endangered waterways. You can read the entire editorial below:

Editorial: Manure from ag operations ruins waterways. When will Iowans get their fill of filthy water?

April 22, 2021

If a toddler's diaper leaks at a public swimming pool, parents get their kids out of the water. Teenagers gag. Lifeguards recognize there's a problem and respond by skimming, treating or even draining the water. Contrast that with Iowa's natural waterways, which are awash in animal manure, harmful chemicals from pesticides and other pollutants, mainly from farm field runoff. READ MORE

Another Spot-On Blog Post by Dr. Chris Jones with How Iowa Can Handle Its Water Pollution Problem

Dr. Chris Jones proposes five ways to clean up Iowa’s waterways at no cost to taxpayers. Read them below:

This Might Hurt Some Feelings

By Dr. Chris Jones

December 23, 2020

There's a page on my website where I post the powerpoint slides from presentations I conduct. I took a look at that page this morning, and over the last five years I have conducted 69 programs for various groups, or about one a month on average. I reckon that at about half of these I get the question, "what can be done", this in regard to Iowa water quality and pollution generated by the corn-soybean-CAFO production model. READ MORE

Our Water at Risk

Two years ago JFAN hosted "Our Water at Risk", a well-received meeting featuring Dr. Jones. You can watch it HERE.