September 25 & 26 | Industrial Farm Animal Production, the Environment, and Public Health

The rapid concentration of farm animal production in factory farms makes meat, dairy, and eggs plentiful and cheap, but this type of agriculture comes at a great cost to human health, communities, and the environment. A new book by Johns Hopkins University Press, Industrial Farm Animal Production, the Environment, and Public Health, brings together public health and other experts to examine some of the most critical topics related to industrial farm animal production. This conference convened in Des Moines, Iowa – the capital of the state with the greatest density of confined animal feeding operations, will highlight critically important information from the book and provide a forum for expert perspectives on growing threats to public health that are too often overlooked.

Large-scale industrial animal operations endanger the health of farm and meatpacking workers, fenceline neighbors, and rural communities. Practices employed in the industrial production of farm animals introduce an array of hazards into the air and water, including antibiotic-resistant pathogens and other microbes as well as nitrates and other harmful chemicals. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that these have serious implications for the health of agricultural workers and rural community residents, as well as for ecological systems. The burden of animal production isn’t evenly shouldered across our society –industrial animal operations are located predominantly in rural areas, often next to low-income communities of color lacking the political capital to push back against the industry. Despite the clear need for greater worker protection and oversight to mitigate the environmental harms and environmental injustices of these practices, factory farms have been notoriously difficult to regulate. Large global food companies have driven independent producers nearly to extinction, sapped the economic vitality of rural communities, and amassed sweeping political influence at both the state and national levels to effectively prevent mitigation efforts.

This two-day conference will examine pertinent topics such as the history, structure, and trends in the factory farming industry; water and air pollution; infectious disease health effects; community and social impacts; environmental justice and sustainable agriculture; and the impacts of COVID-19 among meatpacking workers. With an introduction by Senator Tom Harkin (retired), the hope of the conference is to highlight the serious risks posed to environmental and human health by current farming systems and to examine local and national strategies for moving towards a system that prioritizes health and well-being.