Wisconsin Farmers Union President: State Needs Better CAFO Regulation


Wisconsin Farmers Union President: State Needs Better CAFO Regulation


The president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union said the state`s farmers could use more help at the state and federal levels when it comes to two controversial issues — concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and permitting of immigrant farm workers.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has been accused of both under-regulating and over-regulating CAFOs, farms that have more than 1,000 animals.

Wisconsin Farmers Union President and organic dairy farmer Darin Von Ruden, of Westby, argues a lack of funding has prevented the DNR from protecting the state`s environment. 

"They (the DNR) are responsible for safe drinking water and the health of every citizen of the state of Wisconsin," Von Ruden said. "The issue over the years has become less and less funding for the DNR, so they have less and less people to actually go out and do the background checks and make sure that these operations have the management capacity to make sure that they don`t have issues." ...

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Ken Notes: We need to be very careful of both what we ask for and who we ask. CAFO`s and foreign workers are chips in the legislative agenda. We may get even more hands off on CAFO`s and more deportation of the workers we need to keep our farms running. It would be great to assume the legislature would examine the issues and make good decisions, alas that is not the trend...

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- - Volume: 5 - WEEK: 34 Date: 8/21/2017 9:58:36 AM -