Friends of Rural New York

A Farm neighborhood is the newest addition to Tox Town, a Web-based
introduction to environmental health risks and toxic chemicals. Tox
Town

(http://www.toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/farm/ ) invites visitors to explore a
farm to learn about environmental health issues related to
agricultural waste, drinking water quality, air pollution, pests, and
farm animals.

Tox Town is a project of the Specialized Information Services Division
of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
The site’s target audience is high school, college, and graduate
students; educators; and the interested public. Macromedia Flash
Player is required for best viewing; a text-only version is available.

Comment:This is pure regulatory technology, high gloss, accept the waste, high cost
web site to convince you the consumer that something substantive is being
done to protect your health interests.  If you want to see how much the
regulators really care about chemicals (regardless of where they are found),
research the Toxics Act that was supposed to have caused the vetting of
thousands of chemicals years ago. There is an abysmal record of exposing the
toxigenic and mutagenic qualities of the chemicals covered under the act.

Farm sees gas as new cash cow
Dairy operation hopes to use methane from manure to generate electricity
 
By ERIC ANDERSON, Deputy business editor
Albany Times Union

First published: Friday, January 27, 2006
BRUNSWICK—If all goes well, a year from now Herrington Farms Inc. in rural Rensselaer County could be producing enough electricity to power more than 350 homes, as well as the farm buildings themselves.
The only gas it will use to do this will be the methane from the manure produced by the farm’s 580 dairy cows and from crop and food wastes.
The price Herrington gets for its electricity could yield “significant potential income for the farm,” said Stephen Hoyt, chief operating officer and project manager for Troy-based Saratoga Biogas LLC.
Essentially, the project could end up turning manure into money.
Much still must be done before that point is reached, however. First, there’s the matter of financing. The average cost of a 500-kilowatt installation is $1.5 million, said Lawrence Rosenbaum, chairman and co-founder of Saratoga Biogas, which is overseeing the project.
Although renewable energy projects such as this are encouraged by policymakers, the financing is not yet in place, despite $450,000 in state and federal grants to assist the effort.
That leaves slightly more than $1 million to get the project built.
Ken Green, president of the Saratoga Economic Development Corp., who has been working with Saratoga Biogas, sees two big advantages to the project.
“If we can generate more revenue, reduce costs and reduce energy demand, it makes farms more viable and it increases our open space,” he said.
Green has seen the technology being planned for Herrington Farms in operation in Germany, where at least 600 of these mini-power plants are online.
Sebastian Muehlhuber, who co-founded Saratoga Biogas with Rosenbaum, is mayor of the Bavarian city of Rott-am-Inn. The men met in 1969 during a summer language program in Germany that was sponsored by the University at Albany.
It wasn’t until spring 2004 that they decided to import the technology here and launched their company.
Now, rising natural gas prices have pushed electricity costs higher, encouraging the search for new power sources. Methane digesters are becoming more commonplace on farms across the state, and in October the state Public Service Commission included them in New York’s Renewal Portfolio Standard program, which seeks to increase to 25 percent the amount of electricity generated from renewable resources by 2013.
Herrington Farms would be the first to use German fermenter-based technology, which permits the use of crop and food wastes as well as manure, and produces methane more efficiently, Rosenbaum said.
Producing the methane that is burned in the power plant basically eliminates the manure odor and makes the manure more valuable as a fertilizer, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers on the farm, said Saratoga Biogas’ Hoyt.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is assisting with the project, said spokesman Tom Collins. A $330,000 NYSERDA incentive grant is part of the financing.
Rosenbaum said the digesters could also be installed at commercial sites that produce large amounts of crop and food wastes but not manure.
If all goes well, Saratoga Biogas hopes to begin construction on the Herrington Farms project in early summer. The project is expected to take six months to complete. by e-mail at

Washington Evening Journal
Iowa
1/27/2006
In Jefferson County: Factory farm moratorium sought
Golden Triangle News Service

A big question for the supervisors was what should be considered as a factory farm because the term is not defined anywhere in the proposed resolutions.
JFAN representative Robert Swanson said some people consider large-scale corporate factory farms to be those with more than 1,250 head of livestock while others consider it to be those with more than 2,500 head.
Jim Rubis spoke on behalf of JFAN saying many of the hog confinements come in with head numbers just under the limits, so going by numbers is not a good method.
If siting takes place, special situations where numbers are not the issue can be examined, he said.
According to Rubis, there is a large motivation to have some sort of change because the Department of Natural Resources is having difficulty effectively enforcing current factory farm regulations. A moratorium on new construction and expansion would allow some time to address the issues.
Deborah Williamson of JFAN said there aren’t any downsides to more local control.
However, supervisor Dick Reed was cautious about the idea of local control. Reed said he is in favor of local control, but against local control that gets out of hand, a worry he has about the current situation.

This article can be found on the web at
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060206/kaptur

Saving Small Farmers

by MARCY KAPTUR

[from the February 6, 2006 issue]

We all know that small farmers are in crisis. What many Americans don’t realize is just how much worse things are getting. Because of trade policies like NAFTA, the United States will become a net importer of agricultural products in 2006. While agricultural subsidies have risen to record levels, the prices American farmers receive for crops like corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton and rice have fallen 40 percent since 1996. Some farmers have been able to survive temporarily through emergency payments and subsidies from the government; others, like their counterparts in developing countries around the world, are selling off or abandoning their land. The American dream of small farming is dying.

Congress has a chance to address the crisis in 2007, when the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 expires. While recent debate has focused on subsidies, they are just a Band-Aid on the real wound: prices being controlled by the global agricultural giants. Despite being championed as a boon to small farmers, recent trade agreements have benefited the giants, not those who grow the products. Making matters worse, we have seen a steady erosion of domestic programs that used to benefit farmers by insulating them from volatile prices and correcting the inherent tendency to over-produce. The government has allowed those mega-brokers to dictate policies that benefit them--and kill small farms.

Agribusiness is thriving in global markets governed by trade agreements favoring it over small farmers. Cargill has cornered about a quarter of global grain production. Two companies, Monsanto and Pioneer, control 60 percent of the US corn and soybean seed market. The top four beef packers dominate 83 percent of the market; four pork packers control 64 percent of the pork market; and the top four poultry processors account for 50 percent of that market. This concentration allows these companies more power to set prices--and further squeeze out small producers. Small farmers are reduced to mere contract growers, with little power to negotiate.

We need a system that will boost farm prices, both domestically and globally, to better reflect the true costs of production. That means several things: stepping up regulation of agribusiness worldwide; reviving domestic price-support systems that benefit the farmer first, not the big broker; strengthening rules against agricultural dumping internationally; and managing domestic supply through food security reserves, energy reserves and conservation set-asides.

We also have to recapture the market in our communities. In many places it is almost impossible to find locally produced products because big grocery chains prefer to deal with high-volume wholesalers. I have introduced the Farmers Market Infrastructure Assistance Act (HR 710), which would construct, improve and rehabilitate local farmers markets. We also must find ways to take advantage of other promising markets for local farmers--school lunch and breakfast programs, senior citizen meal centers and hospitals.

Our energy crisis also holds the promise of a new domestic market. The byproducts and waste of agricultural production can be used to produce clean and renewable energy like ethanol, biodiesel and biomass. I have introduced the Biofuels Energy Independence Act (HR 388), which would fund the production, development, storage and marketing of all forms of biofuels.

These proposals only scratch the surface of creative, farmer-friendly solutions that must address the destructive trade policies of recent years. All it takes is some good, old-fashioned ingenuity--along with leadership that supports America’s farmers and ranchers. It’s time to tell the big operators that they’ve had their day.

In the US, local governments are more frequently regulating Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) beyond the limited federal laws already in place. In FAW 6-2 we mentioned that a Township in Ohio is trying to change the definition of “agriculture” to allow regulation of CAFOs under business zoning laws. Similar efforts are ongoing in several US communities, a few of which we describe briefly below.

INDIANA: A proposed Senate bill would require the state’s Department of Environmental Management to revoke permits for CAFOs that violate environmental regulations three times within two years. The new legislation would come at a time when Indiana is struggling to manage the environmental impact of the state’s more than 2,000 CAFOs. The Indiana Agriculture Department has also set a goal to double the state’s pig farming operations, currently the source of most environmental concerns.

NEW YORK: A landowner in Nichols, New York withdrew an offer to sell property for a proposed chicken farm due to pressure from neighbors and community residents. This is the second time a purchase has fallen through for the would-be farm developer who currently runs multiple chicken farms in Ontario, Canada. The Nichols operation was slated to house 180,000 chickens to be raised and slaughtered for their flesh.

KENTUCKY: Commissioners of Fulton County are expected to enact strict regulations on large pig farms that may be considered a nuisance to neighbors due to odor and other reasons. The new rules would require that all pig barns are built no less than 2,000 feet from “schools, homes, businesses and other structures.” Currently the distance is limited to 1,500 feet. The rules would also increase the required setback distance from roads to 300 feet and enact a minimum distance of 5,000 feet between pig barns and city limits.

Residents discuss risks of improper manure disposal
Bowling Green News
Bowling Green, Ohio

By: Dan Myers

About 35 northwest Ohio residents gathered last night to talk about bull crap - literally.

Cow manure that seeps into the ground poses a number of environmental and health risks, said Dave Housholder, vice president of Wood County Citizens Opposed to Factory Farms.

Factory farms, such as the one located in Wood County near Weston, raise several hundred dairy cows and dump their manure on the ground, Housholder said.

He then passed around a schematic of the drainage tile buried under Wood County’s surface, describing its inability to properly handle liquid manure.

“If you’ve ever had a woman show up on your back door crying because her house has been declared lost - and she and her husband have declared bankruptcy - you understand the importance of drainage,” Housholder said.

Among the health risks posed by standing manure include e-coli, listeria, salmonella and other organisms capable of causing disease in humans, according to materials distributed by WCCOFF.

The materials also give detail on environmental pollutants found in bovine waste, such as phosphorus and nitrogen entering the water - chemicals that are toxic to fish.

The manure also releases hydrogen sulfide, which could cause brain damage in humans, according to the New York Department of Health’s Web site.

Housholder is also the trustee for Portage Township, where another factory farm has been proposed for construction.

“Should I go to my constituents and ask for money to bring in an operation they don’t want to come in?” Housholder asked his audience.

Patrick Ng, one of the founding members of WCCOFF when it formed about five years ago, said he is in the activist group to work toward change in factory farms’ practices.

“Right now, we try to stop them from coming in,” Ng said. “We want to have a moratorium because there are not enough studies on manure.”

Ng said he joined the WCCOFF while he was on Bowling Green’s City Council.

“At that time, I was concerned with the pollution entering the Maumee River,” he said. “The manure [from the Weston factory farm] could overflow into the Maumee, which is one mile west of the Bowling Green water intake.”

Last night’s discussion was part of the Wood County Public Forum series of talks organized by a group called Democracy for Northwest Ohio.

According to Lee McLaird, coordinator for the organization, the Public Forum series is a place where the public can discuss issues that are important to them as informed voters.

Katie Hartwell, a senior education major at the University, attended the discussion last night.

“All I know is that a lot of people have a lot of very strong opinions [on this topic], especially in this area, and I want to educate myself on why I should care,” Hartwell said prior to the presentation’s start.

Accumulation of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere has nearly doubled around the globe over the past 200 years. Scientists believe that rising concentrations of this “greenhouse gas,” which absorbs and sends infrared radiation to the Earth, are causing changes in the climate and contributing to global warming.

Livestock animals naturally produce methane as part of their digestive process, belching it while chewing cud and excreting it in their waste. According to the Worldwatch Institute, about 15 to 20 percent of global methane emissions come from livestock. John Robbins, author of The Food Revolution and Diet for a New America, says that methane is 24 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, the culprit normally at the center of global warming discussions.

And there are plenty of sources of it: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that animals in the U.S. meat industry produce 61 million tons of waste each year, which is 130 times the volume of human waste produced, or five tons for every U.S. citizen. In addition to its impact on climate, hog, chicken and cow waste has polluted some 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association, says that a food chain with meat at its top is unsustainable not only as a major contributor of greenhouse gases, but also with regard to inefficient dedication of large amounts of acreage to livestock grazing. The USDA, for example, says that growing the crops necessary to feed farmed animals requires nearly 80 percent of America’s agricultural land and half of its water supply.

In addition, animals raised for food in the U.S. consume 90 percent of the country’s soy crop, 80 percent of its corn crop, and 70 percent of its grain. “If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million,” says Cornell ecologist David Pimentel. He adds that irresponsible livestock farming is directly or indirectly responsible for much of the soil erosion in the U.S.

Unfortunately, environmental problems associated with livestock rearing are not limited to the United States. According to the international environmental journal, Earth Times, meat production grew more than fivefold worldwide during the latter half of the 20th century. And as intensive “factory” farming methods of raising livestock spread from the U.S. to other countries--many with regulatory monitoring and enforcement standards far worse than our own--this form of pollution is sure to play an increasingly larger role in environmental problems moving forward.

CONTACTS: Organic Consumers Association, (http://www.purefood.org); Worldwatch Institute, (http://www.worldwatch.org).

Video will show the hideous facts about industrial dairy operations.

NEW YORK — An online trailer for the upcoming animated film The Meatrix 2: Revolting debuts today at http://www.themeatrix2.com . At long last, fans of the original Meatrix and the public at-large can view the trailer to the long-awaited sequel to the Internet’s most popular animated advocacy film. The 20-second series of clips offers glimpses of the ramped-up action, romance and manure that are promised in this next Meatrix installment, slated for release in mid-March.

The Meatrix 2 mirrors the first film’s successful combination of movie parody ( The Matrix ), cutting-edge Web animation and consumer education regarding the detrimental effects of factory farming. The topic this time is dairy farming.

“Already, people from the U.S., Brazil, Australia, India, Canada, the U.K. and other countries have contacted us since we announced the sequel — the buzz has been amazing,” said Diane Hatz, senior program director of Sustainable Table and executive director of the film. “The film uses innovative Web animation technology and pop culture to enable a broad range of people to grasp the dangers associated with factory dairy farming and the choices they have as consumers.”

The Meatrix 2 Flash animation stars our favorite farm heroes, the young-pig, Leo, the trench coat-clad cow, Moopheus ( http://www.myspace.com/moopheus ), and the sultry poultry fighter, Chickity. The Meatrix 2 brings the trio on a new adventure when Leo is taken to a factory dairy farm where he learns the ugly truth about how the animals are raised, what they eat, and their horrendous living conditions. To get the behind-the-scenes scoop and back story on the making of Meatrix 2, visit http://www.themeatrix.com/blog.

Visitors to the site will also be able to sign up to receive the film delivered directly to their inboxes upon release. Additionally, the Web site that houses the film will soon offer a host of resources to teach viewers about the dark side of the factory dairy farm industry and offer tools to get involved in the sustainable dairy movement. The site will also promote the Eat Well Guide — an online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy and eggs from sustainable farms, stores and restaurants in the U.S. and Canada .

The Meatrix 2: Revolting was produced by Sustainable Table (http://www.sustainabletable.org) and Free Range Studios (http://www.freerangestudios.com). Sustainable Table is a consumer campaign launched to help fill the gaps in the sustainable food movement, and to help direct consumers to the leading organizations working on the issue. Free Range Studios offers top-quality design and Flash animation services to companies and organizations whose vision goes beyond turning the world into a strip mall.

The Meatrix was a 2005 Webby Award winner, and has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success on the independent film festival circuit. In November 2004, the film won Best Documentary Short at the Fourteenth Annual Environment Media Association Awards (EMAs) in Los Angeles . It also has received awards from the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the Gynwood Foundation, and Media Rights’ Media That Matters Film Festival.

Graphics are available http://www.themeatrix2.com/graphics.html

In a very unprecedented move Saturday, nine members from a meat-packing 
union joined a demonstration held by an animal rights organization 
outside a grocery store in Princeton, NJ. Community Animal Project, 
based in Syracuse, NY is touring to Wegmans Food Market stores 
throughout the country to protest the treatment of the hens on their 
egg farm. Upon arriving to the demonstration at the Princeton store 
location, the activists were met with nine members from the southern 
New Jersey’s meat packing union the United Food Commercial Workers 
(UFCW). Although naturally skeptical at first, the activists soon 
learned that the union members were sincere in their intentions to join 
them. They had viewed a screening of "Wegmans Cruelty" at a conference 
a few weeks ago, were very disturbed by what they saw, and decided they 
needed to join CAP when they heard they’d be protesting the store. The 
union members were actually having friendly contests to see who could 
hand out the most literature and DVDs among them. Also, thanks to their 
presence, the activists were able to get closer to the store entrance 
than any previous demonstration.

  "I can’t believe that this company thinks the conditions on that farm 
are acceptable. These hens have the same feelings as cats and 
dogs....it is completely disgusting," said one of the union members.

  These union members are now allies with CAP on this campaign and will 
be helping with future demos and outreach.

  Please visit www.communityanimalproject.org for more information on 
this campaign.
Shawn DeLeo
Community Animal Project
Syracuse, NY

The Governor announced that he has nominated Patrick Brennan
to serve as Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets The nomination requires
Senate confirmation.  The Governor also announced that Mr. Brennan will serve
as Acting Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets beginning next week.

As the State’s Agriculture Commissioner, Patrick Brennan will
oversee the responsibilities of the Department of Agriculture and Markets,
an agency that has both regulatory and promotional oversight of the food
and agricultural industry, including the New York State Fair.  Previously,
Mr.Brennan served as the State Director for Rural Development with the
United States Department of Agriculture overseeing a $200 million budget to
create economic development opportunity and improve the quality of life in
rural New York. The position will pay $120,800 annually.

The Future of Food, a film by Deborah Koons Garcia, is back in stock at the ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION headquarters! The Future of Food provides an in-depth investigation and critique of genetically engineered foods and crops, including interviews with farmer activists such as Percy Schmeiser. According to the Telluride Daily Planet, “This stylish film is not just for food faddists and nutritionists. It is a look at something we might not want to see: Monsanto, Roundup and Roundup-resistant seeds, collectively wreaking havoc on American farmers and our agricultural neighbors around the world. In the end, this documentary is a eloquent call to action.” Get it here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/houseparty.htm#ff

The people have spoken. This is what democracy looks like!

Chicken farm not coming to Nichols; Operation owners say they are not interested in locating anywhere in Tioga County

By L.D. GLOVER Tioga County Editor
NICHOLS - A large, commercial chicken-farming operation tentatively slated to be located in the East River Road area of the Town of Nichols has apparently fallen by the wayside - a victim of lack of public acceptance.

That is what the Morning Times has been able to confirm by talking to town residents, town officials, and a spokesman for the proposed operation.

“We are not interested in Tioga County, anymore,” said Peter Drost of Beamsville, Ontario, Canada. “We have met some good people in the area, but they just don’t understand business and agriculture.”

He said the Drosts, who operate a similar chicken farm in Ontario near Toronto, planned to locate a farm on a 35-acre tract of land on East River Road that they were purchasing for about $200,000 in a private transaction from Martin Kuhlman of the Town of Nichols.

The plan was for the farm to raise up to 180,000 live chickens for shipping to a market New York City.

Kuhlman, who could not be reached for comment Sunday night, is the former operator of Van Winkle Farm, and is an uncle of Nichols Town Councilman Matthew Kuhlman.

Numerous people in the town expressed anger and suspicion regarding apparent secrecy regarding the sale, but Drost denied any secrecy was involved.

He explained that the family looked elsewhere after a proposal to bring the operation to the hamlet of Lounsberry at the Tioga County Industrial Park near Exit 63 was shot down by the Tioga County Industrial Development Agency during its meeting last August.

At that time, the Drosts were going through the Tioga County Department of Economic Development and planning, Drost said.

“I do not discuss business decisions with newspaper people,” Drost said.

But he added that “The people of Tioga County can sleep well,” because the Drosts are looking elsewhere in New York State to place the farm, and have been since the end of 2005.

According to Morning Times records, in September of last year, the Town of Nichols passed a 90-day moratorium on large commercial farming operations, which Town Supervisor James Branston said would give the town “breathing room” to do some research and determine if anything could be done to restrict such operations.

At a special information meeting held just prior to passage of the moratorium, Wendy Walsh of the Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation Department reported that she and members of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation visited and inspected the Drost family operation in St. Catherine, Ontario, Canada, and found it to be sanitary, well-kept and in compliance with all standards.

“There was dry manure there, which smelled, but not outside the facility and not badly, “ she stated.

On Friday, she reiterated her statement, but said she has heard nothing more regarding the chicken farm since the meeting.

For his part, Drost said no members of the family operation had attended Nichols Town Board meetings, did not have the advantage of living close by.

“But this is not a big conglomerate,” he qualified. “We’re just a family farm.”

However, he added that he believes the fact that the farm is “commercial” frightened area residents into believing a monumental operation would arise in their midst.

Copyright © 2006 Sayre Evening Times

Published: Saturday, January 7, 2006

Lawmaker wants to ban a delicacy

By Blythe Lawrence
Herald Writer

OLYMPIA - A Democratic state lawmaker wants what he calls bird torture off the menu in Washington, and it may lead to angst for lovers of foie gras.

Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, is pushing to prohibit the force-feeding of birds to enlarge their livers beyond normal size and the sale of products they produce.

Williams introduced the bill on Tuesday. The 60-day legislative session begins Monday.

The force-feeding technique is used to produce the goose livers used in foie gras, a delicacy served in many upscale restaurants. Also, foie gras is sold at gourmet food stores and is a popular appetizer among many who indulge in haute cuisine.

Williams has eaten foie gras once. He didn’t know how it was made until a constituent urged him to find out.

Fwah-what?

Foie gras, pronounced “fwah-grah,” is French for “fatty liver.” The liver of a fattened goose is soaked in milk, marinated in liqueur and other seasonings, then baked, usually as a pate.
He didn’t like what he learned. Force-feeding methods have caused an uproar among animal rights activists, who want the practice halted worldwide.

Foie gras, which means “fatty liver” in French, is produced by feeding ducks and geese several pounds of corn mush via a pipe forced down their throats.

The practice is equivalent to forcing a 150-pound human to consume 60 pounds of food per day, claims the Animal Protection and Rescue League.

“The idea of torturing ducks and geese in order to make them tastier is really an indefensible proposition as far as I’m concerned,” Williams said. “I don’t think pate is necessary for the sustaining of human life.”

Overfeeding causes birds to contract hepatic lipidosis, a disease that also can be found in humans. The disease causes the animal’s liver to swell up to 10 times its normal size, resulting in “a luxurious product that is at once velvety and meaty,” according to the Web site of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the largest factory farm in the nation to produce the delicacy.

When a bird is slaughtered at Hudson Valley one month after force-feeding begins, its enlarged 1- to 2-pound liver is harvested. Foie gras sells for $12 to $20 per pound at gourmet food shops.

Williams doesn’t anticipate the bill will face much opposition from legislators or the food industry. Instead, he’s trying to put pressure on the food industry to innovate and find ways to make foie gras without hurting birds, or do without.

Those who serve foie gras don’t like the bill.

On Sept. 30, employees at the Campagne restaurant in Seattle arrived to find the French restaurant had become the subject of a protest for serving foie gras. Campagne general manager Gordon Kushnick predicted that if the bill passes, many of his patrons will be upset.

“Foie gras is a classic part of French country cuisine,” Kushnick said. He compared the bill to the smoking ban implemented in December. “People are putting limits on other people’s rights.”

If House Bill 2421 passes, Washington will join California and a handful of other states considering similar legislation to ban the sale and consumption of foie gras from force-fed birds.

The law would take effect in 2012, giving restaurants and gourmet food shops time to find a more humane way to produce foie gras or discontinue selling it.

Reporter Blythe Lawrence: 360-352-8623.

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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.