Showing posts with label Stop The Mega Dairy. Show all posts

Monday, January 19, 2026

Eutrapelian LandMinds: Letters to the Editors of Local Papers Regarding Local Issues and Current Affairs

Eutrapelian LandMinds

Warren Wind Farm: The Fix Is In

In his book, The Careless Society, John McKnight has written that "revolutions begin when people who are defined as a problem achieve the power to define the problem." When the Warren School Board voted to abate three years' worth of taxes to assure the construction of a huge wind farm, the residents of Warren were in effect defined as a problem. This sad fact was established by the Board when it opted to only allow public comment rather than public debate. Then and there, it became clear that the (quick) fix was in, and the time for any questioning, let alone organized opposition, had long passed. The outside pressure to vote for the abatement proved too strong, and the perks--including some possible conflicts of interest involving Board members--too enticing to beg abstention. And just like that, the future of the Warren School District was put in jeopardy, along with that of the town, for the sake of becoming de facto guinea pigs for an economic and social health experiment. With public leadership like this, it may well be time for the people of Warren to consult Webster's and then break out the pitchforks.

(Published in The Flash, 6/2009)

Nothing Conservative About It

Leave it to a Republican to hasten the the demise of conservatism in our county....

Joel Salatin, a self-described "dirt farmer" and a man of many admirable qualities in addition to that one, has noted that "[o]ne of the greatest assets of a farm is the sheer ecstacy of life." Contrast that feeling with the comments of Jim Sacia, one of the many "hollow men" (and women) who seem to believe that genuflection at the altar of the marketplace is all that is needed to rationalize and eventually justify any agricultural policy peddled by the likes of the Farm Bureau. Thus, ten large factory farms preferable to a hundred family farms. Neglected by these same champions of the "free market" is any mention of the benefits current farm policy has for "big government": ten large factory farms are a good deal easier to regulate (and potentially fine or penalize) than a hundred family farms. Moreover, any fine, say, for a manure violation is a petty annoyance for the operator of a ten-thousand head dairy; for a small, family-run operation, it can bring on its demise.

There is nothing conservative about hastening the demise of family farms. There is nothing conservative about the embracing of efficiency to the detriment of a cultural institution that has kept the worst tendencies of the market and the state in check. There is nothing conservative about a Republican Party that offers the likes of Sacia, Bivens and Manzullo as its representatives to the people. Better to fight for an end to the timocracy, and trust not in its princes.

Letter Distributed to Supporters of the Mega-Dairy

I am writing to thank you for your continuing support of farming in Jo Daviess County. By backing the Bos Dairy proposed for Nora Township, you signal a desire and willingness to prostrate yourself before the powerful forces that currently guide and dominate American agriculture. Clearly, you recognize and understand the relationship government and business must maintain for both sides to profit. Large dairy operations are simply easier to monitor and regulate because they are fewer in number. The fewer dairies that regulating agencies have to bother with, the fewer the number of agents that will be needed to bother with them. Government overhead is reduced, and the visits to farm operations are minimized and their management is thus easier to surveil. Fewer surprises at local facilities will aid in keeping fines for manure, chemical and employment violations to a minimum.

What is currently needed, however, is a data base that would input any and all information related to regulatory violations by smaller farm operations. Once compiled, arguably industrial agriculture's least-valued members of its community, could then come under the same scrutiny as larger ones. Willing partners could also then be enticed to provide tips to a violation hotline, anonymously reporting any and all incidents of concern, with the end game being market consolidation and the centralization of power.

Any further discussion and/or inquiries should be brought to the attention of Mr. Saul Versaille c/o ART.neg.INK

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Holy Cow: A Rural Community Battles a Mega-Dairy

John Jankowski

6 min read

“We will discover that Creation is not in any sense independent of the Creator, the result of a primal creative act long over and done with, but is the continuous, constant participation of all creatures in the being of God….We will discover that for these reasons our destruction of nature is not just bad stewardship, or bad economics, or a betrayal of family responsibility; it is the most horrid blasphemy. It is flinging God’s gifts into His face, as if they were of no worth beyond that assigned to them by our destruction of them….
“William Blake was biblically correct, then, when he said that ‘everything that lives is holy.’ And Blake’s great commentator, Kathleen Raine, was correct both biblically and historically when she said that ‘the sense of the holiness of life is the human norm.’”

— Wendell Berry, “The Art of the Commonplace”

I wrote the following on Sept. 1, 2008. My community was divided at the time over the siting of what would have been our state’s largest dairy CAFO. The citizens’ group that formed to fight the “mega-dairy” is called H.O.M.E.S. and still exists. A.J. Bos, the California businessman who proposed the dairy, dismantled most of what he had constructed here and trucked it over the border to Wisconsin, where his partner had already set up shop. Some of the ill will that was generated over the course of the struggle to stop Bos, LLC lingers, keeping neighbors estranged and families feuding.

Here’s a little more context, courtesy of The Chicago Tribune, which took interest in the story.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-20/news/ct-met-mega-dairy-settlement-20121121_1_dairy-industry-largest-dairy-tradition-dairy

Dear friends in Christ,

On the 9th of September, Holy Cross Parish of Stockton will graciously allow HOMES, the grassroots organization working to defeat the siting of a large factory farm near Nora, to hold its weekly meeting in the parish center. Normally held in Warren, the group thought a Stockton meeting would allow for those interested here an opportunity to apprise themselves of recent and ongoing events related to the mega-dairy. We’d also welcome the chance to clear the air of any hearsay or misgivings with respect to the organization’s past and future activities.

As a Catholic, my involvement in the fight against the mega-dairy is a no-brainer. Leaving aside the economic
and environmental arguments — and they are substantial! — the ethics of these operations must be immediately called into question. In them, both man and beast are little more than extensions of machinery; or at a minimum, of the mentality that allows living creatures to be so thoroughly rationalized as to be thought of as little else. Treatment of worker and “livestock” increasingly resembles that of some of our country’s worst sweat shops. In mega-dairies, such as that proposed for Jo Daviess County, technology has aided in the amelioration of some of the worst threats to health and safety that had marred earlier incarnations, but that same technology has all but exacerbated the reification — the “thingification” — of both worker and animal. Cows no longer see the light of day, much less graze on pasture, and are milked at rates that cut lifespans significantly. In fact, many factory farms inject their herds with synthetic growth hormones to pump up production numbers, further mitigating the quality of life chances for those creatures unfortunate enough to be counted as “customers” of Monsanto and the like.

Needless to say, the quality of life of “factory farmers” isn’t much better than that of their “crop,” which explains the predominance of illegal aliens and high turnover rates in the industry. Simply speak with a former or current employee of Pearl Valley Eggs to get some idea of what a de-humanizing environment those factories are capable of producing.

“And also for these, Lord, the humble beasts, who bear with us the heat and burden of the day, we beg thee to extend the great kindness of heart, for thou has promised to save both man and beasts, and so great is thy loving kindness. “— Saint Basil

Regardless of what Mr. Sacia says, these “concentrated/confined animal feeding operations” (C.A.F.O.’s) are not family farms — far from it; they are creations of the marketplace, which, as Catholic social instruction informs us, has historically been the enemy of the family. And, as history has also shown us, the family farm, by no mere coincidence, has proven a stubborn bulwark against some of the worst elements of market forces it affords and preserves. In fact, it could be argued that as goes the family farm, so goeth the our country. Thus the cultural and economic shambles we find ourselves in should be no mystery at all.

The Church also teaches that the state cannot be be regarded as an ally of the family, either. The growth and centralization of state power has spelled the decline of local control, especially that of the family. While some of this authority was willfully (and often ignorantly) ceded, much of it was usurped. Today, federal and state agricultural policies favor and benefit Big Ag (e.g., C.A.F.O.’s), not the locally-run farmers’ markets or family farms. These policy decisions serve to drive smaller farms out of business, punishing families and communities for not acceding to demands to “go big.” Regulations, environmental or otherwise, are tailored to “annoy” mega-farms and crush family farms, for whom fines and audits levied by federal and state officials are often nails in an already closed coffin. Many of the causes of today’s crisis can be traced to the actions of federal and state bureaucratic enablers, the results of which are the weakened state of family farms and the predacious scavengings of agents of the finely-fettered market.

Joel Salatin, a self-described “dirt farmer” and a man of many admirable qualities besides that one, has noted that “[o]ne of the greatest assets of a farm is the sheer ecstasy of life.” Contrast that feeling with that of Mr. Bos, Mr. Sacia, or apparently virtually every member of the local farm bureau. These “hollow men” (and women) have lost touch with a side of farming that the likes of Salatin and Mr. Berry are constantly reminding us of. It’s a view of farming that H.O.M.E.S. embraces. It’s a type of farming that the Westaby family, owners of a local organic dairy, practices every day of every week of every month of every year. In other words, it is sustainable. By virtue of honoring the land that provides their family with both material and spiritual substinence, Delmer and Theresa honor both their ancestors and their future; i.e., their kids.

Let me end this with something written by another author I respect, a fellow Catholic, Matt Scully.

“In a drop of rain can be seen the colors of the rainbow,” observed the historian Lewis Namier. As in every act of kindness we hold in our own hands the mercy of our Maker, whose purposes are in life and not death, whose love does not stop at us but surrounds us, bestowing dignity and beauty and hope on every creature that lives and suffers and perishes. Perhaps that is part of the animals’ role among us, to awaken humanity, to turn our minds back to the mystery of things, and open our hearts to that most impractical of hopes in which all creation speaks as one. For them as for us, if there is any hope at all then it is the same hope, and the same love, and the same God “who shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:4).

Sustainable Agriculture

Monday, February 10, 2025