Community conflict
Perhaps the most distressing aspect of factory farming is the level of conflict which results in communities. People take sides against their neighbors, sometimes even against family members, and the result is often scars that will never heal.
Factory farms bring intense social conflict when a few residents hope to make money off mega-barns that destroy their neighbors’ fresh air, clean water and good health. As well, the factory operations wreck local roads, reduce property values, drive down quality of life, and encourage a transient workforce. If local town councils try to restrict these corporate operations, they often find themselves powerless.
The concerns expressed in communities are real. Hog barns create costs for neighbors and local governments. The offensive smell of manure lagoons could be reduced if enough money were spent. It isn’t, so neighbors incur cost of reduced property value, loss of enjoyment of their homes, illness, and distress. If there is contamination of wells the cost of testing/ treating water or alternative source is borne by RMs or private well owners.
“I was recently asked by a rural advocacy group in Missouri to “list some logical reasons why county commissioners and other rural community leaders should be concerned about effects of livestock factories?” I considered it to be a reasonable request and thus developed a list of reasons why I think rural residents should question whether or not they want large scale, corporate hog farms to locate in their communities.”
Top Ten Reasons for Rural Communities to Be Concerned about Large scale, Corporate Hog Operations by John Ikerd, Agricultural Economist, University of Missouri, Columbia.
In some cases a conflict of interests on the part of decision-makers is involved.
- Anti-hog barn group happy councillor found in conflict - CBC news article.
“The pollution associated with hog ILOs is not compatible with the in-migration necessary to stimulate the economy of rural areas. In fact, this pollution, unless controlled, can stimulate out-migration. A 2000 study of 1,106 rural communities by Gûmez and Zhang of Illinois State University found that economic growth rates were 55% higher in areas with conventional hog farms as opposed to those with larger hog operations even though these growth rates had been almost identical in the studied communities before the advent of larger hog operations.” This study also showed that communities with heavy hog concentration suffered larger population losses than those with conventional hog operations.
From The Hog ILO, Its Implications for Rural Economies in Canada and the US And Comments on the Report to Joint Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee and Planning and Development Committee and Council by Dr. William J. Weida.
- The ILO and Depopulation of Rural Agricultural Areas: Implications for Rural Economies in Canada and the US By Dr. William J. Weida
- Additional papers by Dr. Weida
- Dreams Collide: Communities and Factory Farms in Conflict by Jill Sherrill Smith