Holy Cow: A Rural Community Battles a Mega-Dairy
“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.
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).
