Please leave this field empty
Donate Monthly Make a Gift Renew Your Membership Ways to Give
Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch
  • About
  • Problems
  • Campaigns
  • Impacts
  • Research
  • Contact
Donate Monthly Make a Gift Renew Your Membership Ways to Give
  • facebook
  • twitter
Please leave this field empty
Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch
$
Menu
  • About
  • News
  • Research Library
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Donate
Search
Please leave this field empty
  • facebook
  • twitter

How A Factory Farm Is Keeping A Baby Away From Her Grandparents' Home

One of the 436 factory farms built or expanded in Iowa in 2018 is right next door to the Nelsons, who had hoped to retire in peace. But their new granddaughter can’t visit their home because the hog farm next door creates too much pollution.

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • google-plus
  • envelope

We all need safe food and clean water.

Donate
01.18.19

Kim Nelson and her husband have lived in Calhoun County, Iowa for decades. It’s where they worked and raised their children. They were nearing what they had hoped would be a peaceful retirement. They wanted to sit outside in the summer and enjoy all the benefits of living in a quiet, rural community. They had hoped to frequently babysit their grandchildren in their home.

The real price of living next to massive amounts of hog manure

That was until Iowa Select decided to build a 7,500 head factory hog farm right next door on Upland Avenue. It will be spreading manure less than 30 feet from the Nelson’s home and less than 20 feet from their well. Take a moment to imagine that — manure from a 5,000 head hog farm will be spread less than 30 feet from their front door and 20 feet from their only source of drinking water.

At the same time the Iowa Select facility was being proposed, the Nelsons’ daughter and her husband welcomed a beautiful little girl into their family. The baby was born prematurely, but she’s a fighter, and is now at home with her mom and dad. Unfortunately, the baby girl will never be able to visit Grandma and Grandpa at their home in Calhoun County — not with her respiratory issues that are a result of her premature birth — because the hog farm next door is spreading manure and polluting their air with hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and particulate matter.

SIGN THE PETITION!

Kim Nelson's grandchild can't visit her because of factory farming and toxic hog manure.

Local leaders are being shut out of the permitting process

The fight against the Iowa Select facility next to the Nelsons failed because local communities in Iowa have very little input into the permitting of factory farms. County leaders should be the last line of defense against these toxic and polluting facilities, but instead their hands are tied. This lack of meaningful local control has led nearly a quarter of Iowa counties to pass resolutions demanding local control or a moratorium on new factory farms.

The Iowa Select factory farm has destroyed Kim and her husband’s peaceful life in Calhoun County. And they’re not the only Iowans suffering. Iowa’s factory farms have turned rural parts of the state into a sacrifice zone. Iowa is truly in the midst of a factory farm crisis — over 10,000 factory farms are destroying Iowa’s rural communities, independent farms, and drinking water. With manure odors covering Des Moines and nitrate levels exceeding federal limits in 11 of Iowa’s public water supplies, it is time for Iowa’s elected officials to take bold action for a moratorium on factory farms.

This is how we can stop new factory farms

During the upcoming legislative session, a bill calling for a moratorium on factory farms will be introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bill will place an indefinite halt on the construction of new and expanded factory farms until the impacts of these industrial facilities have been assessed.

If you’re from Iowa, we need your help. Your elected officials need to hear from you on this issue. We’re building the list of the bill’s co-sponsors in the House of Representatives. Ask your representative to co-sponsor this critical piece of legislation to enact a moratorium on factory farms in Iowa.

Passing this bill during this session will be an uphill fight, and we know that. But a moratorium on factory farms is the only real solution to the crisis facing the Nelsons and countless other families, our rural communities, family farms, and our water. This crisis worsens with every passing year. It’s time for our elected officials to take bold action to protect us. Families like the Nelsons can’t wait.

Act now: Ask your representative to support a moratorium on new and expanded factory farms.

SIGN THE PETITION!

 

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version

Monsanto's Roundup is a "probable human carcinogen." We need to ban it!

Get the latest on your food and water with news, research and urgent actions.

Please leave this field empty

Latest News

  • BLUE COMMUNITIES: Learn What They Are And Get Started

    BLUE COMMUNITIES: Learn What They Are And Get Started

  • Tom Vilsack’s Cozy Relationship With Big Ag Makes Him A Non-Starter at USDA

    Tom Vilsack’s Cozy Relationship With Big Ag Makes Him A Non-Starter at USDA

  • Trump’s Out, Biden’s In! Now The Fight Of Our Lives On Climate Begins.

    Trump’s Out, Biden’s In! Now The Fight Of Our Lives On Climate Begins.

See More News & Opinions

For Media: See our latest press releases and statements

Food & Water Insights

Looking for more insights and our latest research?

Visit our policy & research library
  • Eversource’s Plan to Privatize New Hartford’s Water

  • The Urgent Case for a Moratorium on Mega-Dairies in New Mexico

  • Fracking, Power Plants and Exports: Three Steps for Meaningful Climate Action

Fracking activist with stickersFracking activist in hatLegal team loves family farmsFood & Water Watch organizer protecting your food

Work locally, make a difference.

Get active in your community.

Food & Water Impact

  • Victories
  • Stories
  • Facts
  • Trump, Here's a Better Use for $25 Billion

  • Here's How We're Going to Build the Clean Energy Revolution

  • How a California Activist Learned to Think Locally

Keep drinking water safe and affordable for everyone.

Take Action
food & water watch logo
en Español

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold & uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people’s health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.

Food & Water Watch is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Food & Water Action is a 501(c)4 organization.

Food & Water Watch Headquarters

1616 P Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20036

Main: 202.683.2500

Contact your regional office.

Work with us: See all job openings

  • Problems
    • Broken Democracy
    • Climate Change & Environment
    • Corporate Control of Food
    • Corporate Control of Water
    • Factory Farming & Food Safety
    • Fracking
    • GMOs
    • Global Trade
    • Pollution Trading
  • Solutions
    • Advocate Fair Policies
    • Legal Action
    • Organizing for Change
    • Research & Policy Analysis
  • Our Impact
    • Facts
    • Stories
    • Victories
  • Take Action
    • Get Active Where You Live
    • Organizing Tools
    • Find an Event
    • Volunteer with Us
    • Live Healthy
    • Donate
  • Give
    • Give Now
    • Give Monthly
    • Give a Gift Membership
    • Membership Options
    • Fundraise
    • Workplace Giving
    • Planned Giving
    • Other Ways to Give
  • About
  • News
  • Research Library
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Donate
Learn more about Food & Water Action www.foodandwateraction.org.
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • 2021 © Food & Water Watch
  • www.foodandwaterwatch.org
  • Terms of Service
  • Data Usage Policy