Help Stop a Factory Farm in Wisconsin's Family Farmland

by Taylor Leake · 2011-07-08 07:28:00 UTC
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What would you do if you found out that 5,000 cows would be moving into your neighborhood? When Bob Clarke heard that a corporation called MilkSource was planning on building a massive, factory dairy farm in Richfield, Wisconsin, he got busy trying to stop it.

Clarke's mission isn't solely personal — constructing a mega dairy would have a huge impact on the local environment and residents' quality of life. If built, the dairy farm will negatively affect local air quality and the already-too-low water table as it pumps 52.5 million gallons of water out of the ground each year. Waste from the farm threatens to pollute the community's drinking water and two nearby, pristine trout-fishing streams. And then there's the noise, traffic, and offensive odors that come with any large factory farm.

As residents Shari Weakman recently commented, "Being a property owner on Pleasant Lake, quite near this proposed farm, I am appalled to think that the peaceful, family farm atmosphere of this area could be over-run by a large factory farm."  Talk about bad neighbors.

When the news first broke about the Richfield factory farm, Bob Clarke started a website called Stop the Richfield CAFO. He then successfully petitioned for a public hearing on whether the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) should issue a permit for the farm. The hearing will be held at the Adams County Community Center, 569 North Cedar St., in Adams, WI at 1 PM on July 18th. If you can make it, go let the state government know what you think of factory farms, and be sure to sign Clarke's petition.

Winning the hearing was just the first step, however. Now Clarke and the coalition of local residents, businesspeople, and local chapters of Wisconsin Trout Unlimited that he's working with have to convince the DNR not to grant the proposed factory farm a Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit that would allow it to discharge pollutants into the state's waterways.

That's where you come in. Clarke plans to present all of the signatures he gets on the petition he started here on Change.org to the DNR on July 18th to show just how many people are opposed to this factory farm. Can you help by taking a minute to sign the petition?

Photo Credit: chefranden via Flickr

Taylor Leake is a foodie and activist. He's previously worked for Food and Water Watch and Wake Up Walmart.

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