The Devastating Toll of Factory Farm Water Pollution in Iowa.
From safe beaches, to affordable drinking water, to their own family members and lives, Iowans are losing a lot to factory farms’ pollution. Leaders must act, the US organisation Food & Water Watch writes.
Iowa’s factory farm industry now raises 23.5 million factory-farmed hogs annually — one-third of all such hogs in the U.S. Yet since 1982, the number of Iowa hog farms plummeted by almost 90%. Many small family-owned operations are getting overtaken by a few massive factory farms.
Last year, Food & Water Watch spoke to Iowans who see, smell, and feel the disastrous impacts of Big Ag every day. What they told us aligns strikingly with what we see in the data.
The toll of Iowa’s polluted water is growing, and it will keep growing unless Iowa’s elected officials pass bold policies to hold the industry accountable and prevent more harm.
