Editor, Times-Union: The impact of a CAFO in your five-mile radius has some obvious problems, such as odor, run off and increased big truck traffic that will cause road deterioration. There will be an abundance of manure in the area. Our waterways, streams and ditches empty into our lakes. Manure is being spread too close to these waterways.
People who have any kind of respiratory problems can expect to have them amplified by the particles that are spewed out by the large fans a CAFO must employ to keep the inside tolerable for the crowded animals. Workers are exposed to disease from the animals.
A CAFO in the area means that some sustainable farmers will not be able to compete and will need to call it quits. Your source of good-quality meat, that has not been fed antibiotics and growth hormones in their daily feed ration, will become scarce and the price may be above what you can afford to pay. Big business will take over and try to tell you that your concerns are not legitimate. Some CAFOs send 80 percent of their meat to foreign countries. This means that our county and state will not reap any benefits of having such a big factory farm in the area. CAFOS cause many problems for businesses in close proximity, also. One is the ever present odor that can permeate inventory from a nearby business.
There are additional downsides to proposed CAFOS. People who are opposing them are becoming targets of theft. Stealing is stealing no matter what the item may be. Our grassroots group does not hold fund raisers nor do we collect money. The sign that we display, stating our disdain for CAFOS in the area cost money. Our group has had to report to the sheriff three times because someone sees fit to come onto our property and steal signs against factory farming. Add to this the fact that some of our public servants are less than cordial to us when we go to an office for a document that we need. They give out their personal opinion, when encountered, instead of just doing their job.
Farmers have always been known for their being good neighbors, good stewards of the land and helpers to those fellow farmers in need. This has gone out the window and has been replaced by greed and bad feelings. We need a wake up call and it is occurring with national attention to the real facts about the ill effects of factory farms. A proposed CAFO is the beginning of the dividing of a community and the fallout of neighbors. Everyone will take sides unless they are completely oblivious to the issues at hand. Educate yourself, be a better neighbor.
