Rural Issue

Symposium spotlights concerns about CAFOs

A series of symposia sponsored in part by the Humane Society of the United States spotlights the group’s concerns about concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. Keynoting a panel discussion Tuesday, University of Missouri emeritus agriculture economist John Ikerd said CAFOs are harmful to public health, environment and society.

“We are destroying our rural communities with the industrialization of agriculture, socially, physically, ethically,” Ikerd told Brownfield Ag News in Columbia Tuesday. “We are destroying our rural communities in the process of industrializing agriculture; and CAFOs are the epitome of industrial agriculture.”

Farm Sanctuary President Gene Baur pointed out that he’s personally vegan, but concedes that others need to make their own choices about what they eat. He said confined animals are raised like commodities and without respect.

“The way animals are being treated on farms today is not aligned with what most consumers expect,” said Baur.

On the other hand, Dan Kleinsorge, the executive director of Missouri Farmers Care, counters by saying that modern agriculture gets credit for the best food system in the world.

“What I would say is we have a growing population worldwide and locally, and agriculture has always been changing; it’s not the same now as it was 50 years ago. And 50 years ago it was highly more advanced than it was 100 years ago,” said Kleinsorge. “So instead of talking about what we shouldn’t do, let’s talk about how we keep that change moving forward and how we want to do things better.”

Kleinsorge maintains that the U.S. food supply is among the safest and most reliable.

AUDIO: John Ikerd (10 min. MP3)

AUDIO: Gene Baur (3 min. MP3)

AUDIO: Dan Kleinsorge (4 min. MP3)

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