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Call for CAFO moratorium in Nebraska draws sharp response from Farm Bureau

An official of Nebraska Farm Bureau says they’re not surprised by the effort to place a moratorium on new concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in the state.

Ansley Mick says they’ve been preparing for what she calls “anti-animal agriculture activists” for some time.

“We started seeing it on the coast a year ago with some pork producers—and we took some action in the legislature this year, actually, to help protect growers in rural areas who would be targeted by nuisance suits,” Mick says. “And quite a few years ago, Nebraska Farm Bureau and several other groups formed the Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska and also We Support Agriculture to sort of provide a clearing house for growers to combat this type of thing.”

The group leading the CAFO moratorium petition effort, Nebraska Communities United (NCU), says state and county regulations are inadequate to protect rural communities and farmworkers.

Mick disagrees. She says Nebraska farmers go through an extensive CAFO approval process.

“We have local control as it relates to county zoning, plus our state requirements and also federal requirements,” she says. “I think the reality is, if this were really about regulations and about growing livestock responsibly, these people would want it grown here, because we do it better than anyone else.”

NCU calls the Costco poultry project in eastern Nebraska “the extreme vertical integration of animal agriculture”. But Mick says Farm Bureau sees it differently.

“We believe that our growers are smart. They’re good business people. They know what makes sense. They understand what the risks are in agriculture and if someone else, a bigger company, can assume that liability—why not?”

Farm Bureau says livestock farming is part of the heritage and fabric of Nebraska and a critical part of Nebraska agriculture.

Brownfield spoke with Mick at last week’s Husker Harvest Days farm show.