Agriculture

Agriculture

The number of U.S. farms in the United States has been declining for decades, as farmers have been told to “get big or get out.”  As agriculture has industrialized and become more capital-intensive, much of the decline has come at the expense of small and midsized farmers.

While this shift to large industrialized farms has resulted in substantial increases in agricultural production, largescale farming operations force small more diverse family operated farms out of business, damage the viability of rural communities, reduce the diversity of agricultural production, and create environmental risks through their production practices. Moreover, the global food system is increasingly controlled by some of the largest corporations on earth, which prioritize profit over sustainability.

Access to land is complicated by investors buying agricultural acreage. These investors vary from agri-business “farmers” to private equity firms. Their deep pockets price out new and existing farmers looking to purchase land.

Government policies heavily influence what farmers grow and consumers eat by subsidizing the production of certain crops. “Despite the rhetoric of “preserving the family farm”, the vast majority of farmers do not benefit from federal farm subsidy programs and most of the subsidies go to the largest and most financially secure farm operations.” Farm Subsidy Primer

“Currently, the government directs the bulk of its subsidies toward commodity crops like corn and soybeans. These are used to make cheap sugars, starches, and oils that end up in highly-processed junk foods.

Commodity crops also result in industrial livestock feed in a financial mechanism called the “Feed-Meat Complex.”  More than a quarter of 2019 farm spending either supported feed for livestock and poultry, or went to the corporate-controlled industrial meat and poultry industries directly.

Cheap industrial livestock feed ultimately benefits meatpacking monopoly corporations, which have for decades wielded their political power to shape a system that suits them.”

The appearance of industrial scale livestock and poultry production in rural areas has become a contentious issue. These industrial scale operations are called CAFOs – concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFFs – concentrated animal feeding facilities. CAFOs are commonly defined as an intensive animal feeding operation that houses over 1000 animal units for over 45 days a year. The U.S. EPA creates designations based on animal numbers that are related to animal units: Regulatory Definitions of Large CAFOs, Medium CAFO, and Small CAFOs.

Williams County and surrounding areas began to see the influx of CAFOs in the late 1990s. In response, numerous citizen groups formed out of concern over environmental and quality of life issues.

In Ohio, by 2000, agribusiness interests were successful in having regulatory oversight over CAFOs transferred from the Ohio EPA to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. All oversight currently exists at the state level. Local communities have no decision-making authority in the permitting process. Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting.

For years, most of the attention has been focused on permitted CAFOs but an application filed at the end of 2022 with the Steuben County Indiana Board of Zoning Appeals for a special exception for an 8000 head calf CAFO revealed an extensive cattle feeding network existing in Steuben County Indiana, Williams County Ohio and in all likelihood, adjoining counties in Michigan. This network supplies 150,000 head of cattle per year to the global meatprocessing giant, JBS.

Citizen oversight and water testing in the area of the cattle feeding network resulted in an investigation by the Ohio EPA and the Ohio Department of Agriculture. One of northwest Ohio’s largest manure investigations executed in Williams County ; Amish Farmers’ Partnership With Beef Giant Produces Manure Mess