Recent editorials have been written about large livestock farms, and many are a good summary of the issues recently addressed by the Indiana General Assembly.

Unfortunately, they and several subsequent letters to the editor are also examples of the public’s growing misperceptions about the reality of livestock farmers, their business motivation and their environmental stewardship.

 So, who are today’s “factory farmers?” They are the same hardworking families that have farmed for centuries. They live on their farms, they work in the buildings, they raise their families and drink the water within feet of the operations.

According to the USDA, 98 percent of all farms are owned by families. Attempts to vilify, dehumanize or disparage these families are disappointing.

 Agriculture today is vastly different than it was 25 or even 50 years ago. Unfortunately, because it isn’t like “grandpa’s farm,” those who don’t understand modern farming fear it and believe the falsehoods portrayed about it. But “grandpa’s farm” wasn’t regulated before 1971.

Today’s largest livestock farms are safer to our soil and water supplies than at anytime in history and are regulated more than most other industries. Modern farmers use no-till and
conservation tillage practices to protect soil from eroding. They use buffers and filter strips to protect surface water. The assertion that livestock farming is made up of an unwatched and unchecked group of ne’er-do-wells is false.

Large livestock farms (CAFOs and CFOs) are held to a higher water quality standard as compared to manufacturing or waste treatment facilities; they can discharge nothing. For example: Last year, it is estimated that 15.3 billion gallons of raw sewage was discharged into the environment from septic systems alone. In that same time period, only 11 of 2250 faced formal enforcement action as a result of a discharge.

 I am not implying that animal agriculture is free of problems. If flagrant, repeated violations occur, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Indiana’s Department of Environmental Management and the leading livestock trade organizations all advocate these operations be shut down. Even in the debate surrounding recent legislation, Indiana’s livestock farmer groups were engaged, proactive and eager to insure appropriate inspection levels, enhancements to the state’s manure management program and disclosure requirements to catch bad actors earlier.

 Livestock farms contribute more than $4 billion to Indiana’s economy each year, and that amount is growing by more than 5 percent annually. The prospects for long-term growth in livestock farms are very strong.

Ball State University’s Office of Building Better Communities recently completed an analysis for two rural Indiana counties, which showed that growth in the hog sector will contribute more than $100 million in total output to those local economies and contribute more than 2,300 jobs.

Animal agriculture can and should be a growing part of our state’s economy. It should be embraced as we have embraced family farms for centuries.

But, we in agriculture know we must engage our neighbors and officials, acknowledge our challenges, call out bad actors and hold up those who do it right. We must also engage our local communities to help them see the value in livestock farming and to address their concerns.

ISDA’s goals to promote the livestock industry are unwavering. We fully support growth in Indiana’s livestock sector, but only by farmers who protect our natural resources and care about their community and neighbors.

Andy Miller,
Director
Indiana State Department of Agriculture

This farm news was published in the June 27, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.