Dakota Rural Action, along with the Socially Responsible Agriculture project, is cosponsoring a Beyond the Barn event at the Twila Egger’s farm near Brookings on Saturday night. Speaking to the group will be Dr. John Ikerd, retired Ag Economics Professor from the University of Missouri. He’ll be talking about the effects of large farming operations also known as confined animal feeding operations. (CAFOs)
Ikerd says the operations he’s talking about include 1,000 or more cattle, 2500 or more hogs, and 700 or more dairy cows. He wants to put out all the information he can and allow people to make their own decisions.
He says that CAFO proponents always point to providing more jobs and economic benefits, but overall studies have shown those benefits to be negligible.
The event starts Saturday with a supper at 5:00, followed by the presentation at 6 p.m. Joining Ikerd is South Dakota Attorney, Mitch Peterson. For more details go to the Dakota Rural Action website.
