Great job, Kendra!

Halverson showed slides of pigs and chickens confined in close conditions,
and Kendra Kimbirauskas of the Sierra Club spoke about the general impact of
the big farms - including potential water and air pollution and the alleged
overuse of antibiotics and the possible effect of that on humans.

                  The Associated Press State & Local Wire

                   September 4, 2003, Thursday, BC cycle
                            2:12 AM Eastern Time

 HEADLINE: Visiting farmers don't like factory farms
 DATELINE: THORNTON, Iowa
 A group of farmers from around the world were not impressed by factory hog
farms they are finding in a tour of the Midwest.

 "I'm afraid it will be the type of farming we're going to see more and more
in Europe - which is the end of the family farm," said Gerard Vuffray, an
agronomist from Switzerland.

 "I'm surprised about the way it's produced. And I can see farmers can't
compete with that type of production. It's a choice of society. I
wouldn't like it for my country to be that way," Vuffray added.

 On Wednesday, Mieczyslaw Babalski saw swine life on a different scale.

 The organic farmer from Poland watched pigs run, root, eat, play, rest, eat
some more, and explore in the cool green grass at Niman Ranch near Thornton.

 Babalski, another of nine farmers from around the world touring Iowa and
Wisconsin this week as part of a "factory farm tour," said he's worried
about the confinement farms' effect on Iowa's rich soil.

 But he softened at the sight of those free-range pigs sniffing and nipping
at everyone's heels.

 "Maybe it costs more," Babalski said through an interpreter. "But it's
worth it."

 "Farmers who know how to do this are a national treasure," said Diane
Halverson, farm animal adviser for the Animal Welfare Institute in
 Washington, D.C. "And we need to preserve them, and to give consumers a
chance to reject the products of animal factories, by purchasing the
products of farms which meet animal welfare standards."

 The farmers, who also hail from Brazil, France, Hungary, the Netherlands
and Mexico, are touring with members of PublicCitizen, a Washington,
D.C.-based public interest organization.

 They're in the Midwest to see the advantages of sustainable farming and
gauge the impact of livestock confinement facilities, which are
starting to be built in other countries.

 The farmers gathered Tuesday evening for a slide presentation and
discussion at the Best Western Holiday Lodge in Clear Lake.

 Halverson showed slides of pigs and chickens confined in closeconditions,
and Kendra Kimbirauskas of the Sierra Club spoke about the generalimpact of
the big farms - including potential water and air pollution and the alleged
overuse of antibiotics and the possible effect of that on humans.

 "I think they were surprised yesterday by what they saw," said Patty Lovera
of Public Citizen. "It's not all it's cracked up to be, this
huge, CAFO (confined animal feeding operations) way of raising animals."

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