Des Moines Register: "Egg farms rack up violations"

by: desmoinesdem

Mon Aug 29, 2011 at 18:05:50 PM PDT

A year ago, the recall of half a billion eggs laid in Iowa made national news headlines. But if you thought that federal or Iowa government agencies would take meaningful steps to reduce the chance of another salmonella enteritidis outbreak in egg factories, guess again.

Environmental group slams Iowa Farm Bureau bid to "harass and intimidate"

by: desmoinesdem

Fri Aug 12, 2011 at 18:23:01 PM PDT

Professor sounds alarm on future of Leopold Center

by: desmoinesdem

Sun Mar 13, 2011 at 11:07:18 AM PDT

Iowa governor stacks environmental commission with agribusiness advocates

by: desmoinesdem

Fri Mar 04, 2011 at 06:00:00 AM PST

Iowa has notoriously poor water quality. Not only are there more than 400 "impaired waters" in the state, the Des Moines Water Works has the largest nitrate removal system in the world, because "the Raccoon River has the highest average nitrate concentration of any of the 42 largest tributaries in the Mississippi River Basin." Even so, the Water Works sometimes struggles to handle high levels of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) in the Raccoon River, forcing the water treatment facility to draw from a secondary source. Iowa watersheds are also a major contributor to the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, and the nutrients from "Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from commercial fertilizers and animal manure from farmland were the biggest contributing sources" of the excess nutrients that cause the dead zone.  

Despite those facts, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad (R) made clear throughout last year's campaign that he believes the state Department of Natural Resources takes too tough a stand in enforcing pollution rules. His appointee to run the DNR is a former head of the Iowa Association for Business and Industry and a partner in a law firm that has represented the Iowa Farm Bureau as well as corporations like Monsanto. Branstad is now considering moving all water quality and monitoring programs, as well as Clean Water Act compliance, from the DNR to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. I discussed that idea at more length here.

On March 2 Branstad announced more than 200 appointments to state boards and commissions, including four members of the state Environmental Protection Commission: Dolores Mertz, Brent Rastetter, Eugene Ver Steeg, and Mary Boote. All four have close ties to agribusiness interests. Details are after the jump.

Iowa by the Numbers

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Feb 25, 2011 at 23:10:34 PM PST

Outgoing Iowa governor proposes new egg safety rules

by: desmoinesdem

Wed Jan 12, 2011 at 15:20:43 PM PST

Although the new federal egg regulatory regime is aimed at the state's largest producers, a new, mandatory Iowa [Salmonella enteriditis] detection and prevention program should be enacted under amendments to existing law and the creation of a new Iowa Code Section 196.15 to complement the federal government's efforts to prevent SE contaminated shell eggs from entering into the nation's food chain from all of Iowa's egg producers.

There are at least five issues that are not covered by the recent federal egg regulatory reforms, that Iowa law does not currently address and that, therefore, unless corrected legislatively, may leave consumers of Iowa-produced eggs vulnerable to future SE poisoning.  First, federal egg safety laws pertain only to egg farms that host at least 3,000 hens and do not cover smaller operations.  Second, under federal law, producers have no legal obligation to report positive SE testing results to any federal or state agency.   Third, there are no accreditation or certification standards for laboratories that conduct SE testing.  Fourth, there are no legal criteria that establish the minimal level of training and competency for persons who are charged with the responsibility for implementing a new mandatory SE detection and prevention program.  And, fifth, there is no clearly-identified funding stream to support an effective expansion of state egg programs.

I posted the complete Culver administration memo on egg safety proposals at the Iowa community blog Bleeding Heartland. I'm not optimistic that incoming Governor Terry Branstad or the Iowa legislature will support these ideas, but they merit serious consideration. I would be interested in feedback from the La Vida Locavore community.

CropLife Celebrates Biodiversity... in Iowa

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Oct 29, 2010 at 17:06:23 PM PDT

• Tom Vilsack, United States Secretary of Agriculture
  
• Rajesh Kumar, Indian Farmer
  
• Pam Johnson, Iowa Farmer
  
• Camila Illich, Brazilian Farmer
  
• Gary Munkvold, Iowa State University
  
• Judy Chambers, IFPRI
  
• Moderator: Orion Samuelson, National Farm Report

This post covers the remarks of Tom Vilsack, before the other panelists spoke. You can watch this event here. I was planning to do a post on the remainder of the panel but it does not seem terribly worthwhile. Everyone said exactly what you would expect people in a forum hosted by a pesticide/biotech industry group to say. The Brazilian farmer said she works on an 8000 hectare (19,768 acre) farm, 5000 hectares (12,355 acres) of which are cultivated as farmland growing commodity grains and soybeans.

Aha! Got It! Dirty Details About the Egg Operations That Sold the Tainted Eggs!!!

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 22:25:37 PM PDT

In short, at Wright County Egg, they found holes in the buildings where other animals could get in, wild birds, standing water, rodents (a MAJOR risk factor for salmonella), escaped chickens, live and dead flies, live and dead maggots, and lots of poop (piles of manure 8 feet high!).

There were also some problems in the feed mill, which makes sense if the salmonella came from the feed. Birds were all over the place in there, and there were holes in several food containers. Plus some "avian like feces." No surprise, the FDA tested for salmonella and found plenty of it in there.

The report for the Hillandale, the other farm (the one not owned by DeCoster), was much less exciting. There's still a bit of manure, rodents, open holes in the structures, standing water, and lack of record keeping, but it's clearly not as bad as the DeCoster operation.  

Backyard chickens coming to Iowa's second-largest city

by: desmoinesdem

Tue May 18, 2010 at 07:29:07 AM PDT

Several other Iowa municipalities, including Des Moines, allow people to keep hens for eggs within city limits. I've never heard of a public nuisance problem. The main issue for the chicken owners is keeping predators away from their hens at night.

If the trial period is successful, maybe some city officials from Cedar Rapids can help Jill's chicken project along in San Diego.

Last Week's Antitrust Workshop

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Mar 15, 2010 at 23:08:47 PM PDT

WHY Hunger says the following about competition in food and agriculture:

There are 2 million farmers and 300 million consumers in the US. Standing in the middle are a handful of corporations who control just about everything that happens to our food between the farm and our plate -- how much it costs, how it's grown, where it comes from, what's in it, and who sells it. Most of what probably matters to you about why food isn't healthier, safer, tastier, or all around better is affected by that narrow bottleneck of power between producers and consumers.

Standard economics holds that if the top four companies in any industry control over 50% of the market, that industry is no longer freely competitive. Right now, the top four companies control 85% of the nation's beef, 70% of pork, and 60% of the nation's poultry. Three corporations process over 70% of the nation's soy. Just one company controls 40% of our milk supply, and Monsanto holds patents on 80% of corn seed. Our food system has become one of the least competitive sectors of the marketplace.

If you want to send comments to the DOJ, please do so here (the deadline was Dec 31, 2009 but it seems that they are still accepting comments).

Should Farmers Speak at a Govt Hearing on Farming?

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 14:53:17 PM PST

So... silly question: Should a workshop about "issues of concern to FARMERS" include presentations by farmers? Umm, maybe. According to the DOJ anyway. They've now amended the originally proposed schedule to include some farmer representation. Details below.

Update on Thicke's campaign for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture

by: desmoinesdem

Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 09:13:47 AM PST

The incumbent Republican, Bill Northey, will be heavily favored in this race and will raise more money than Thicke. However, Thicke has outstanding qualifications, and his vision for agriculture deserves our wholehearted support. We don't often hear Iowa candidates speak out against excessive concentration of agricultural markets or advocate stronger regulations for confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). I recommend reading the four-part interview Blog for Iowa did with Thicke last year (part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4). Francis and Susan Thicke operate a successful organic dairy farm and won the 2009 Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture.

Those who share Thicke's views about farm policy may want to consider donating to his campaign via ActBlue. Incidentally, his name is pronounced "Tic-kee."

Iowans, please contact legislators on bad CAFO pollution bill

by: desmoinesdem

Wed Feb 10, 2010 at 07:22:32 AM PST

[Department of Natural Resources] has proposed rules that would require existing facilities need to have at least 100 days of storage, in order to qualify for an emergency exemption for winter application because of full storage structures.  But HF 2324 exempts confinement feeding operations constructed before July 1, 2009 from this rule.  Specifically the bill states:

"A confinement feeding operation constructed before July 1, 2009, and not expanded after that date is not required to construct or expand a manure storage structure to comply with this section."  

Lack of adequate manure storage during winter months is a major cause of water pollution in Iowa.  Without adequate storage, farmers apply the manure to frozen or snow-covered farm fields, risking run-off into nearby streams at the first thaw or rain.

More details and contact information are after the jump.

Iowa Farm Inner City Group MVP

by: Brad Wilson

Tue Jan 12, 2010 at 12:25:58 PM PST

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Iowa's leading farm organization, and urban organization, has been recognized as Most Valuable Grassroots Advocacy Group.  Iowa CCI is a member of the National Family Farm Coalition.  It has done a great job of bringing inner city urban folks together with farmers.  I've heard farmers say things like, the next time you're fighting a drug pusher in your neighborhood, (an issue they discussed,) I'll come and help!

Iowa CCI has also taken this into Chicago's National People's Action (NPA), where large actions urban/rural actions in DC, (and recently in Chicago) have brought these two groups together to go after USDA (ie. Sec. Veneman) as well as urban and combo problem leaders (ie. Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich)

Also, historical family farm icon, Mark Ritchie, founder of IATP, won (for his newer role as Minnesota Secretary of State,) Most Valuable State Official.

This Little Piggy Went to a CAFO

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Oct 27, 2009 at 17:53:51 PM PDT

A few weeks back, while in Iowa, I visited a hog confinement. Everyone in Iowa refers to the state as "the belly of the beast" and I did not want to be spared from any part of that beast. (Although my nose began having second thoughts about going to a CAFO the night before I went.)