USA: Ohio, Michigan megafarms spur clashes over air, water pollution

One cow produces the waste of 23 to 30 humans

Travel some back roads and the pressing public-policy issue in those rural areas isn't necessarily $3-a-gallon gas or violence in the Middle East - it's more likely manure.

As dairy and livestock mega-farms, known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, sprout across the country and region, an emotional debate over animal pollution and air and water quality is building.

Clashes can be found in nearly every state, but it is especially vocal in the western Lake Erie region, where fresh water is abundant and the multibillion-dollar tourism industry relies on the health of the Great Lakes.

Fifteen large-scale operations are in Hillsdale and Lenawee counties, and 30 operate or have permits within a 90-minute drive of Toledo. They are specialized, and each is home to thousands of dairy cows or hogs; chicken operations sometimes eclipse a million beaks.

One cow produces the waste of 23 to 30 humans, giving some farms the sewage challenges of small cities....

Source: Ohio, Michigan megafarms spur clashes over air, water pollution

Link: Activists to speak out against Foster Farms in Fresno this Sunday