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The situation
Factory hog farms of unprecedented size and impact are being constructed from Minnesota to Texas, from North Carolina to Utah. The implications of a wholesale move to factory farming and vertical integration in hog production are enormous. The corporatization of the hog industry is literally ripping apart the fabric of many rural communities across the country.
These issues are extremely urgent to family hog farmers who are being discriminated against in the markets; to rural communities facing the degradation of their environment, the destruction of their quality of life and the loss of their authority as local governments; and to those who want American agriculture to be environmentally sound, socially just, humane, and profitable for family farmers.
The Campaign
The Campaign for Farnily Farrns and the Environment is made up of farmers, rural residents,
environrnentalists, animal protection advocates, and civil rights, religious and labor leaders from across the United States.
The Campaign is an action-oriented effort to stop government and agribusiness policies and
practices that are detrimental to America's family farrners, the rural economy, animal welfare, public health, and to our land, water and air. We demand public policies that promote a more sustainable, humane agricultural system.
We are demanding the accountability of corporations, politicians and public officals, both locally and nationally through the use of direct action to expose the disastrous effects of factory farms and to effectively pressure the agribusiness corporations, financial institutions, governrnent agencies, universities and trade associations that promote industrial hog farrning. The Campaign will help citizens to organize against corporations that use intimidation and the power of their capital to control communities and local governrnents. The outcome of this battle over the future of hog production will determine what type of agriculture America will have: a sustainable, humane family farm system of production, or corporate-controlled factory style production.
The history
The Carnpaign for Farnily Farrns and the Environrnent was kicked off on April 1, 1995 in Lincoln Township, Missouri with a rally and concert that featured FARM AID President and co-founder Willie Nelson. The rally focused attention on Lincoln Township, once a peaceful rural community, sued for $7.9 million by hog giant Premium Standard Farrns, Inc. (PSF) for allegedly violating their property rights: the residents of Lincoln Township had voted to enact an ordinance to guide development in the township in order to preserve the health, welfare and quality of life of its citizens, and to protect the area's natural resources.
As a result of pressure created by the April 1 rally and from thousands of citizens across the country, PSF dropped its demand for monetary damages. However, PSF still refuses to drop the lawsuit to abide by Lincoln Township's planning and zoning regulations.
In the words of Willie Nelson, "The story of Lincoln Township needs to be told. Premium Standard 's lawsuit against Lincoln Township is a symbol of what's going wrong in rural America . . . The situation in Lincoln Township really puts the question to all of us: Do we want our food grown by families or factories? By standing together, the brave residents of Lincoln Township remind the world that small towns and family farms must not be destroyed by factory farms."
For more information, contact the following Campaign organizations:
Missouri Rural Crisis Center - (314) 449-1336
Citizens of Lincoln Township, MO - (816) 947-7337
Land Loss Prevention Project, NC - (800) 672-5839
Land Stewardship Project, MN - (612) 823-5221
Illinois Stewardship Alliance - (217) 498-9707
Animal Welfare Institute - (507) 645-2478
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement - (515) 266-5213
Oklahoma Toxics Campaign - (405) 282-2494
