An iteration on the right to prioritze money over everything else
February 15, 2021 9:27 PM Subscribe
I recently learned about the "right to farm." These laws are in every state in the USA. These laws are pro-CAFO and pro-pesticide/herbicide spraying. California, breadbasket of the world, has a version of this law that doesn't allow counties to get stricter, meaning counties can't ban spraying. Hopefully it's easier to work on where you live. This article would have you know that the EPA says there's up to 70,000,000 pounds of pesticide drift every year. Here are the stories of some individual people and what right to farm means for them. Here is an organization working in California to make things slightly better. Here's a clever partial workaround. Here is a hopeful story about a place in Italy that banned pesticides.
There's a $5 video called Right to Harm that looks good from the trailer. I haven't watched the whole thing yet. If your public library offers free Kanopy subcriptions, as many in the US do, Right to Harm is available through Kanopy.
Most of these links came from chat.
There's a $5 video called Right to Harm that looks good from the trailer. I haven't watched the whole thing yet. If your public library offers free Kanopy subcriptions, as many in the US do, Right to Harm is available through Kanopy.
Most of these links came from chat.
In Kansas it has been up to the county governments to decide whether or not to allow large feedlots. Some, like the one in which I live, do not citing concerns from citizens about the smell and other nuisances plus worries about potentially cratering property values for those near the lot. Sam Brownback pushed to not only overturn county control over the permitting process but also to limit the liability of these operators when they do affect the property values of their neighbors. He only managed to get the second part passed--- in Kansas if a feedlot opens right next to your home and causes its value to tank you can no longer sue the operator for damages. But thankfully counties still have the final say on whether to allow these disgusting cesspits or not.
posted by drstrangelove at 4:43 AM on February 16, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by drstrangelove at 4:43 AM on February 16, 2021 [3 favorites]
I grew up in a farm state (MN) and now live on the East Coast. But, lo and behold, even little Rhode Island passed one of these very broad laws.
Ours says that no sign put up by a farm can be limited by a local aw, and no one can complain about smells or dust or...anything. Farming activities include hay rides, festivals, petting, and displays of antique tractors.
I volunteer at a small farm that our town owns, where all the food gets donated to food banks. Apparently we could be huuuuge assholes to the neighbors, and we're basically untouchable. Time to set up a petting zoo, with neon signs and a heliport!
posted by wenestvedt at 6:39 AM on February 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
Ours says that no sign put up by a farm can be limited by a local aw, and no one can complain about smells or dust or...anything. Farming activities include hay rides, festivals, petting, and displays of antique tractors.
I volunteer at a small farm that our town owns, where all the food gets donated to food banks. Apparently we could be huuuuge assholes to the neighbors, and we're basically untouchable. Time to set up a petting zoo, with neon signs and a heliport!
posted by wenestvedt at 6:39 AM on February 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
Correct form there would be a pink hotel, a boutique and a swingin' hot spot.
posted by flabdablet at 7:02 AM on February 16, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 7:02 AM on February 16, 2021 [6 favorites]
Interesting, and thanks for posting this. We live in "the county" outside of the city limits of the closest town. Wehn we bought the house, we were told that it was zoned for 'agricultural use by right,' which we (I guess rightly) took to mean that there weren't any restrictions on things like livestock which in our case meant bees and chickens. I think the zoning only disallows quarrying the land and/or operating a commercial nursery. Everything else is permitted. I could fence in the front and raise hogs if I was so inclined.
(Friends, I am not so inclined).
The property we're on was pasture once upon a time. There's too much exposed rock for row crops, though they plant the normal rotation stuff across the road from us. I only see them spraying once a year - roundup, I presume, right before planting. There's plenty of dust flying around when they're harvesting, too. Many of the farms are turning over to subdivisions which generally seek annexation by the city soon after they're completed, which means the city limits get a bit closer every year. It's conceivable that at some point we'll be back inside the city limits, and perhaps subject to the same rules that drove us out to start with. The only saving grace is that we're not subject to any sort of HOA and the self-same rock I just mentioned will probably keep brakes on further development.
We looked at another house before we bought this one and it was directly adjacent to row-cropping. As in: corn stops at your lawn. We opted against it - both of us were worried about drift of herbicides and pesticides so damned close. OTOH there are no CAFOs here; TN is a calving state so the beef is born and raised here before shipping out elsewhere. There is commercial poultry production in our state, but nothing closeby. They tend to cluster around the feed mills that producers have to use.
Frankly the biggest hassle in the area in the last few years though was the wave of Barn Wedding Venues and everyone locally trying to cash-in.
posted by jquinby at 7:12 AM on February 16, 2021 [5 favorites]
(Friends, I am not so inclined).
The property we're on was pasture once upon a time. There's too much exposed rock for row crops, though they plant the normal rotation stuff across the road from us. I only see them spraying once a year - roundup, I presume, right before planting. There's plenty of dust flying around when they're harvesting, too. Many of the farms are turning over to subdivisions which generally seek annexation by the city soon after they're completed, which means the city limits get a bit closer every year. It's conceivable that at some point we'll be back inside the city limits, and perhaps subject to the same rules that drove us out to start with. The only saving grace is that we're not subject to any sort of HOA and the self-same rock I just mentioned will probably keep brakes on further development.
We looked at another house before we bought this one and it was directly adjacent to row-cropping. As in: corn stops at your lawn. We opted against it - both of us were worried about drift of herbicides and pesticides so damned close. OTOH there are no CAFOs here; TN is a calving state so the beef is born and raised here before shipping out elsewhere. There is commercial poultry production in our state, but nothing closeby. They tend to cluster around the feed mills that producers have to use.
Frankly the biggest hassle in the area in the last few years though was the wave of Barn Wedding Venues and everyone locally trying to cash-in.
posted by jquinby at 7:12 AM on February 16, 2021 [5 favorites]
This is such a weird contrast to HOAs in the US, in which private orgs have effectively government-like regulatory controls over individuals' residential property, all in the name of preserving property values.
posted by at by at 7:46 AM on February 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by at by at 7:46 AM on February 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
For people who don't RTFA, a CAFO is a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. Here is an explanation from the Sierra Club titled Why They're Bad. (Hint: lots and lots of shit.)
posted by wenestvedt at 8:09 AM on February 16, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 8:09 AM on February 16, 2021 [2 favorites]
Anyone interested in the darker side of the farm industry should follow Dr. Sarah Taber (@SarahTaber_bww) on Twitter. I grew up in the rural heartland (surrounded by farmland used mainly for corn) in the 70s and 80s, and shudder to think of everything I ingested and inhaled over the first 20+ years of my life.
posted by ensign_ricky at 11:45 AM on February 16, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by ensign_ricky at 11:45 AM on February 16, 2021 [4 favorites]
Memories of learning of "hog waste lagoons" in Hurricane Floyd.....
posted by thelonius at 11:55 AM on February 16, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 11:55 AM on February 16, 2021 [3 favorites]
Right to farm is often tied into anti-PETA (and other) legislation that protects farmers by making filming on farmland illegal, even if you're standing in the neighbor's property or are employed there and filming activities.
Farming is complex.... rarely done in a manner I'd call ethical, but it can be done (and is - occassionally).
Unfortunately farmers are incredible about funding ag lobbying organizations, and I haven't seen a lot of nuance put into writing legislation to protect the kind of farms we want (small family farms selling fruit, veg, and animal products in a sustainable manner, not massive family-owned cash crop and cfao agribunesses). They're both family farms, and both can/do qualify as "small farms", but only one would look small to you or I.
More info (wiki): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ag-gag
posted by esoteric things at 5:26 PM on February 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
Farming is complex.... rarely done in a manner I'd call ethical, but it can be done (and is - occassionally).
Unfortunately farmers are incredible about funding ag lobbying organizations, and I haven't seen a lot of nuance put into writing legislation to protect the kind of farms we want (small family farms selling fruit, veg, and animal products in a sustainable manner, not massive family-owned cash crop and cfao agribunesses). They're both family farms, and both can/do qualify as "small farms", but only one would look small to you or I.
More info (wiki): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ag-gag
posted by esoteric things at 5:26 PM on February 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
Is this another Farm Bureau action? I know Farm Bureau is like the NRA, but against pollution control. They are a big part of why agriculture isn't regulated by the US clean water act or clean air act.
posted by eustatic at 7:28 PM on February 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by eustatic at 7:28 PM on February 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
The Farm Bureau has mobilized against interstate compacts to clean water in the US, so, they are a deadly lobby against local seafood industries in the Chesapeake and the Gulf of Mexico.
Those of us downstream from these chemical "farms" do not have a right to fish, or eat local, sustainable food, apparently.
posted by eustatic at 7:33 PM on February 16, 2021
Those of us downstream from these chemical "farms" do not have a right to fish, or eat local, sustainable food, apparently.
posted by eustatic at 7:33 PM on February 16, 2021
And I wish someone who works in Ag Policy would talk about the environmental racism of the chemical production of fertilizers.
I'm always told by Midwesterners that there are no people of color affected by bad farm policy.
Fertilizer production in the US is concentrated heavily on the US Gulf Coast, in small towns like Donaldsonville, or the Pasadena part of Houston. The air pollution from producing the US petrochemical -agricultural system is a killer for people if color in the US petrochemical corridor.
posted by eustatic at 7:38 PM on February 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
I'm always told by Midwesterners that there are no people of color affected by bad farm policy.
Fertilizer production in the US is concentrated heavily on the US Gulf Coast, in small towns like Donaldsonville, or the Pasadena part of Houston. The air pollution from producing the US petrochemical -agricultural system is a killer for people if color in the US petrochemical corridor.
posted by eustatic at 7:38 PM on February 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
Yep, also: sure, 95% of US farmer owners are white. But the majority (72%) of US farmworkers were foreign born.
posted by aniola at 8:02 PM on February 16, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by aniola at 8:02 PM on February 16, 2021 [3 favorites]
The Farm Bureau has mobilized against interstate compacts to clean water in the US, so, they are a deadly lobby against local seafood industries in the Chesapeake and the Gulf of Mexico.
One example to drive your point home--- I crossed a bridge over a shallow river here in Kansas once to see a herd of cattle standing in the creek. The bank on either side had been denuded all to hell from their hooves. You could clearly see that the water upstream was clear but on the other side of the bridge the water was red from the dirt they were stirring up. I'm sure there was plenty of e.coli in that water as well.
I read somewhere that Kansas has the most polluted water of any state in the nation and I have little doubt about there. On my evening walks I head out into the country and cross a creek that in warmer months is choked with algae and at all times of the year is filled with trash, animal carcasses, etc.
posted by drstrangelove at 4:12 AM on February 17, 2021
One example to drive your point home--- I crossed a bridge over a shallow river here in Kansas once to see a herd of cattle standing in the creek. The bank on either side had been denuded all to hell from their hooves. You could clearly see that the water upstream was clear but on the other side of the bridge the water was red from the dirt they were stirring up. I'm sure there was plenty of e.coli in that water as well.
I read somewhere that Kansas has the most polluted water of any state in the nation and I have little doubt about there. On my evening walks I head out into the country and cross a creek that in warmer months is choked with algae and at all times of the year is filled with trash, animal carcasses, etc.
posted by drstrangelove at 4:12 AM on February 17, 2021
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posted by aniola at 11:03 PM on February 15, 2021 [1 favorite]