by Ann Kult
Editor-Stuart Herald, Stuart, IA
    "It shouldn't have been so hard to stop a faulty and ill-advised
Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) construction permit", says Bob
Cook,  a long-time Stuart resident and citizen activist.
    I say this because, if ag industry money and lobbying had not so
strongly influenced this year's and past legislation, and if the Iowa
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was positioned and funded to truly
protect the environment, this battle would have been over long ago.
    Cook described the Environmental Protection Commission's Oct. 9 ruling
overturning the DNR's decision to grant Gary Weihs and Natural Pork
Production II (NPPII) a construction permit for a 7,000-head sow facility in
Harrison Township a very significant victory for citizens armed only with
facts and a passion to protect their environment and rights.
    But it's only a start, emphasized Cook, whose passion has always been
toward rural America and Iowa's rural communities. He has
studied and researched livestock production for 15 years, and believes that
the industrialization of agriculture and the proliferation of
corporate hog confinements has been a detriment to rural society.
    Cook, a guest speaker at last April's  2002 Summit for Sustainable Hog
Farming in Clear Lake, contends there is a decision  to be made
in support of sustainable agriculture in Iowa.
    While he celebrates the EPC's overruling of the DNR's decision to grant
Weihs a permit, he believes there is still plenty of work to be done.
The citizens of Iowa and this nation must continue to fight the almost
overwhelming power and influence that the corporate ag sector
continues to hold on lawmakers, local, state and nationally, he said.
    I admire greatly the drive, stamina, attitude and character shown by
Sharon (Jurgensen), Autumn (Dean), Barb (Kalbach) and other
leaders of Adair County Families Against Factory Farms (ACFAFF), Cook added.
They took on a well-connected CAFO development group and the powerful
corporate pork industry.
    Cook also said that he salutes not only the ACFAFF leaders and members,
but the Adair County Board of Supervisors and Adair County Board of Health,
who took "strong stands"on this issue.
    That took courage at a time when courage is seldom displayed by office
holders at higher levels, Cook said.
    Greenfield attorney Jay Howe, a member of  ACFAFF, agrees that there's
more work to be done.
    "We've gotta do something more than just win at these things," Howe
said. "We need to sit down and figure out ways to raise and farrow hogs at a
level where we're not hauling manure all over creation and creating havoc
for the neighbors with odors and flies."

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