Comments on: Pal-Item Takes Swing at CAFO Editorial, Misses Entirely

By: Pila

Pila — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:36:53 +0000

I think it is interesting that people who raise concerns about CAFOs are portrayed as being driven by “emotions,” while those who speak out in favor of them claim to have “science” on their side. Are there any *independent* scientists who think that CAFOs and CFOs are good for the environment?

By: Pat Gerrich

Pat Gerrich — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:01:09 +0000

With all due respect Mr. Warren, please tell people in Michigan & N. Carolina that hog farms of today are environmentally friendly. These CAFOs are an abomination and environmentally unfriendly. You need to talk to someone that lives by one and stay the day. You need to get a good stiff of one up close. Then you tell us that they are better today than they were in the past. I want to see evidence to that nature. It is sad when you see the statistics that 80 out of 92 counties in Indiana have these lovely farms. As of this year there were CAFOs polluting water. I don’t think anything has changed other than the people that run our government. They want this mess for our state. One of our representatives did want a moratorium, but it was shot down. That is the only thing that makes sense right now. They need to stop giving permits until more studies have been done on environmental impacts. They need to actually get out and talk to people that are near these mega farms.

By: Jerry Warren

Jerry Warren — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:19:12 +0000

I have attended many of the meetings in Randolph Co. where the anti-CAFO people have talked and am amazed at how little these people understand about agriculture. I have a degree in agronomy and can’t believe many of the things these people say about agriculture. I agree some anti-CAFO people are from an agriculture background, but many are from a different era and are not current on today’s farming practices. Farming practices must change as technology advances.
Today’s hog farms are much more enviromentally friendly to the surface water than the hog farms of years past. Hog manure is handled as a fertilizer instead of a waste product, and the hog farms are on concrete capturing virtually all of the manure instead of letting the pigs leave their waste on the pasture ground. Today’s hog farm manure is applied scientifically and evenly to local fields. Hog farming practices of the past simply left manure standing in areas hogs occupied and was overapplied adjacent to hog lots. One can use global positioning satellite (GPS) soil samples and locate high phosphorous readings from 50 years ago where the older hog farms used to be located.