7/22/00

Is Big-Pig headed for the wetlands? Are South Dakota's prairie potholes Boss-Hog's new "Hog-Waller?" Are duck hunters going to rise from the blinds fogged with the stench of hog waste? With all the recent events, one has to wonder. Just look at what has been happening.

June 26, 1999: Kevin Wooster reports in the South Dakota Argus Leader that the Farm Bureau is suing in court to have a South Dakota referendum banning corporate hog farming declared unconstitutional.

Never mind that the referendum, Amendment E, was passed last year by 59% per cent of the voters in South Dakota, in part to protect family farmers from predatory corporate factory hog farming.

July 9, 1999: Reporter Tony Dean alleges in the Minnesota Outdoors Magazine that big agribusiness in South Dakota, including the Farm Bureau, is involved in the "unscientific" and "improper" de-classification of wetlands. Dean cites the Farm Bureau's damaging "smoking gun" letter, done as a favor to big agribusiness, as well as a party thrown in South Dakota by the Farm Bureau for NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Services) national chief Pearlie Reed. PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) calls for an internal audit.

July 12, 1999: Conservation groups file suit, alleging "NRCS has broken the law and threatened the progress made in protecting prairie wetlands." Tom France, National Wildlife Federation senior legal counsel added, "It appears the only consultations NRCS held were with the American Farm Bureau Federation..."

Environmental groups are alleging violations of four different environmental laws: SWAMPBUSTER (wetlands protections), the Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.

July 12, 1999: The Farm Bureau immediately begins PR damage control by releasing a "counter-spin" article on their national Web site. (Though dated July 12, the article was not actually posted until July 19.) In this article, the Farm Bureau tells readers the wetlands de-classification is a "simple procedural adjustment."

The Farm Bureau adds that the situation has been "blown totally out of proportion" by the environmental community. Farm Bureau spokesman Wayne Smith stated in this article that the "decision was not a policy change, rather an adjustment in procedure to comply with the farm bill." "If that violates the ESA, then maybe we need to revisit provisions in ESA," Smith said. July 13, 1999: GREEN receives a copy of a scientific study done by US Fish and Wildlife Service biologists. This report estimates the proposed wetlands "de-classification" will reduce the fall flights of waterfowl by 29% to 49%.

July 16, 1999: A Sierra Club press release reports corporate hog producer Premium Standard Farms "had another spill causing a fishkill last Wednesday at the old Continental Grain Scott facility in Daviess County. (Missouri) Approximately 2000 gallons of hog manure spilled out of a land-application pipeline riser and ran into Raccoon Creek, killing nearly 1300 catfish, sunfish and minnows."

Raccoon Creek is habitat for the Topeka shiner a ferally endangered minnow. Earlier this year the Sierra Club reported the Southern Farm Bureau Annuity Company, an affiliate of the American Farm Bureau Federation, owned 18,700 shares of Premium Standard Farms stock. Fist fights nearly ensued at the local Missouri Farm Bureau offices when betrayed farmers learned of Farm Bureau’s financial investments in Premium Standard Farms.

July 16, 1999: Rumors circulate in Washington, D.C., that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), buckling under pressure from agribusiness "influence peddling," is going to abdicate responsibility of factory farm waste management plans to the NRCS. Critics maintain the NRCS is much too susceptible to big agribusiness to be able to implement adequate enforcement. Many call this rumored delegation improper and probably illegal. July 20, 1999: PEER continues its request for investigations into the affair. To date, there is no response from the investigator generals at the EPA or the NRCS.

In every state where factory hog farms proliferate, legions of Farm Bureau lobbyists and policy pushers have paved the way for corporate agribusiness. In some states, these Bureau lobbyists even admit factory farms are destroying the family farm. Putting all of this together, one has to ask: Is the "Bureau" draining the wetlands for more factory hog farms? Are the marshes to be the Bureau’s next hog-waller?

With the evidence mounting, one begins to envision factory farms, like some unknown beast, slouching towards the prairie potholes.

Meanwhile, I am not sure if we can literally say the pigs will soon be wallowing in the wetlands in South Dakota. But figuratively?