December 6, 2007
EDITORIAL
It's hard to believe the No. 1 pork-producing state in the nation doesn't already know which odor-control practices work best and are most cost-effective.
That's apparently the case, however, since a state task force is recommending the 2008 Legislature spend $23 million to gather more information about best practices for hog, poultry and cattle facilities. Several hundred farms will be test sites on a voluntary basis over five years. Producers will share the cost for some of this applied research. "Part of the solution is to have this additional data," said Wendy Wintersteen, Iowa State University's agriculture dean.
LTE
Congress has long resisted putting meaningful caps on crop-subsidy payments, resulting in 1 percent of producers currently getting 25 percent of subsidies. Now there is a move afoot to funnel USDA conservation money to owners of large concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) ("Fight Rises on Conservation Money," Nov. 18 Philip Brasher column).
Large CAFOs are required by law to build appropriate pollution-control structures. To pay them to do what the law requires is a waste of conservation money.