Raising a Stink

Carolyn Johnsen

Description

In Nebraska, as in many states across the nation, factory farms housing tens of thousands of hogs have altered the physical, cultural, and economic landscape, and have generated complex and deeply divisive conflicts among family farmers, environmentalists, agribusinesses, and elected officials. A reporter long familiar with the controversy, Carolyn Johnsen draws on a wealth of interviews, archival material, and her own extensive experience as a journalist to present a timely, informative, and balanced account of this complicated and troubling agricultural practice—and to put a human face on its causes and consequences.

 

Here everyone has a say: farmers and neighbors suffering from proximity to the factory hog farms; pork producers adopting the latest hog confinement technology in the face of fierce opposition; politicians attempting to interpret the “science” and shape public policy in a maelstrom. The result is the story of a struggle for the heart and soul of rural America.

Sujets

• Sustainability
• Environmental science
• Nebraska

Informations

• Publié par: Bison Books
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780803203303
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

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volume 15 in the series Our Sustainable Future

series editors Charles A. Francis, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Cornelia Flora, Iowa State University Paul A. Olson, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

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 

Raising a Stink

The Struggle over Factory Hog Farms in Nebraska

University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London

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©2003by the University of Nebraska Press. All rights re- served. Manufactured in the United States of America. Library of Congress. Catalog- ing in-Publication Data. Johnsen, Carolyn,1944— Raising a stink: the struggle over factory hog farms in Ne- braska/Carolyn Johnsen. p. cm.—(Our sustainable fu- ture; v.15) Includes biblio- graphical references and in- dex (p. ).isbn 0-8032-7617-6 (pbk. : alk paper)1. Swine— Nebraska2. Swine—Eco- nomic aspects—Nebraska.3. Pork industry and trade— Nebraska. I. Title. II. Series. sf395.8.n2j64 2003 636.4'009782–dc21 2002043024

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Contents

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

List of Illustrations vi Acknowledgments vii Introduction ix If Economics Rule1 Hog-Wild to Expand13 Riled Up18 Home Rule29 The Legislature Weighs In44 Hog Hiltons and Initiative300 56 A Tale of Two Counties68 The Marshal Comes to Dodge83 Pork Tenderloin at the Capitol95 Another Pass at the Legislature105 Building on Sand112 The Smell of Money125 To Make a Silk Purse out of a Sow’s Ear Notes149 Index173

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Illustrations Following page80

Ranchers Jim Lawler, Ron Lage, and Barb Rinehart Max and Willard Waldo at their farm near DeWitt Mabel Bernard enjoys her flowers Wayne Kaup adopts new methods in Holt County Brian Mogenson at one of his hog farms in Antelope County Aaron Spenner and friend Bob Spenner in his hog pasture near West Point Finisher pigs at the University of Nebraska hog farm near Mead One National Farms site in Holt County Ron Schooley joins other factory-farm opponents A sow and her litter at Progressive Swine Technologies Hog farms become a focus of Nebraska news “If You Can’t Beat ’ Em, Move” Elaine Thoendel and Donna Ziems

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Nancy Finken, news director at the Nebraska Public Radio Network, who permitted me to take a leave of absence to write this book; to Paul Olson, Chuck Francis, and Clark Whitehorn for their enthusiastic support and advice; and to Bud Pagel, Bill Kloefkorn, and Sandra George, who made helpful suggestions on early drafts of the manuscript. Thank you to the Fund for Investigative Journalism for the generous grant that supported my research and to the Wesleyan Writers who offered both comic relief and monthly comments on my writing. My deepest appreciation goes to my husband, Dave Fowler, whose love, advice, and encouragement have sustained this effort.

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The essential project of the American West was to exploit the available resources. – Patricia Nelson Limerick,The Legacy of Conquest

Introduction

What I learned of the contemporary swine industry began in1997at Ne- braska Public Radio. On a beat that encompassed both agriculture and the environment, I naturally paid attention to the growing storm in the coun- tryside. TheNorfolk Daily Newscalled it “a vitally important struggle . . . for the soul of northeast Nebraska’s towns and the farms that undergird 1 them.” My first personal encounter with the intensity of the debate came in October1997at a long hearing in a public hall in Crete that was part of a study by two committees of the Nebraska legislature. Among the two hundred or more people in the crowd, the lines were clearly drawn between those who saw opportunity in factorylike hog production and those who predicted the death of the family farm and the contamination of precious air and water. The same actors are still on the stage today, more than four years later. Between1997and2000I wrote more than one hundred stories on the controversy over mega–hog farms. It became clear to me that there was much more to the story than was possible to tell in ten or a hundred five- minute radio reports. This book is the result of my desire to know more than I could learn under the pressure of a daily deadline. I also wanted to create a

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