A coalition of more than two dozen state, local, and national organizations rallied at the Iowa statehouse, urging passage of a package of bills they say will strengthen regulation of large hog confinement operations known as CAFO’s. The coalition says they have diminished the quality of life in the Iowa countryside. The Iowa Alliance for Responsible Agriculture is calling for a moratorium on new large hog operations until fewer than 100 Iowa waterways remain impaired. It’s one of several bills offered by Senator David Johnson, an Independent from Ocheyedan, to strengthen regulation of hog farms.
Under the bill, the moratorium would last until Iowa redesigns the so-called Master Matrix plan adopted in 2002 that helps to determine if a livestock operation can be built. Critics say the plan is not working to limit the locations of livestock operations. The chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee, Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Oskaloosa, has assigned the bill for consideration — be says he has concerns.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says there are roughly 13-thousand CAFO’s in Iowa, and the number continues to grow.
