Organizing Against Factory Farms
LSP organizes local communities to stop factory farms that pollute the air and water, threaten the health of their neighbors, and drive family farmers from the land.

In December 2000, LSP members won a landmark court ruling against factory farms. For the past 2 years, LSP members in Fillmore County worked to stop a factory style dairy. This mega-dairy threatened to place a 7.3 million gallon lagoon in environmentally sensitive karst geology. Members have been vocal opponents of the project at the county and state level as well as in the media. When the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) failed to order an environmental review of the dairy, LSP members challenged the decision in court. In a first-of-its-kind ruling, the judge ordered the MPCA to do the environmental review. This victory means that the MPCA must do a better job of regulating feedlots or lose in court, and it gives hope to others fighting factory farms in their communities. Hoping to have a similar impact, LSP has recently joined a fight against a mega-dairy near Waseca, Minn.

LSP continues to defend the right of local units of government to set their own environmental standards on factory farms that may be more restrictive than state standards. We are also monitoring state legislation that threatens to weaken Minnesota's environmental review processes or hydrogen sulfide standards.

Take Action
· Become active in your community. A resource guide is available from LSP for citizens wanting to protect their community from factory farms. Contact the LSP Metro office (651-653-0618) to order a copy of When a Factory Farm Comes to Town: Protecting Your Township from Unwanted Development.

· Get involved! Contact the Policy office (612-722-6377) if you are interested in finding out what you can do to stop factory farms. If you live in the southeast corner of Minnesota and are concerned with local factory farm issues, contact Bobby in the Southeast office (507-523-3366).

Updates on LSP's work fighting factory farms can also be found in the Land Stewardship Letter. See the following issues:

April/May/June 2003 (pdf) - Navigating the GEIS: Manure spills vs. manure applications - which affects water quality more?

Jan/Feb/Mar 2003 (pdf) - The People's GEIS (Generic Environmental Impact Statment) on animal agriculture (feature story)

Jan/Feb/Mar 2003 (pdf) - The mathematics of factory farm welfare; ValAdCo settles with state

May/June 2002 - LSP members expose failure of top state environmental review agency

March/April 2002 - LSP members fight factory farms throughout Minnesota

Jan/Feb 2002 - Organizing against factory farms

Nov/Dec 2001 - Landmark feedlot study falls short

Sept/Oct 2001 - Court ruling favoring Waseca County factory hog farm to be appealed

April/May/June 2001 - MPCA's failure on factory farms focus of meeting with commissioner

Jan/Feb/Mar 2001 - Waseca mega-dairy decision put on hold

Jan/Feb/Mar 2001 - Court sides with LSP in ordering Dairy EIS

December 2000 - LSP members take concerns to Attorney General

November 2000 - The 12 Days of Christmas - Courtesy of Mega-Livestock Corporations

November 2000 - Follow-up: LSP's sulfide tests prompt officials to investigate manure lagoon toxins; Anatomy of a Manure Spill

November 2000 - Why did the Hog Farmer Cross the Road

April/May/June 2000 - MPCA ignores science, citizens in vote to not do EIS

Jan/Feb/Mar 2000 - Anatomy of a factory farm fight