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March 13, 2008

All You Need is TWENTYFIVEMILLION Gallons

...of PIG POOPIE flowing downstream to know that THIS:

Neb. corporate farming debate revived

The Legislature could debate whether to revive a ban on corporate farming this year.


...is a GREAT idea.
... Sen. Cap Dierks has introduced a bill that supporters say would essentially reinstate all the components of the original ban while removing legal flaws cited by the courts when it was quashed.

John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, helped push for the ban known as Initiative 300 in the 1960s and 1970s up until it was approved by voters in 1982. He said although the new proposal bans non-family corporate farming, it allows corporate family farms from outside Nebraska to operate in the state.

"We're making it clear that if you're a family farm corporation, you don't need to be from Nebraska if you're going to operate in Nebraska," he said.

Until it was thrown out by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld an earlier federal court decision, Initiative 300 was considered the strongest corporate farming ban in the country.


I'm sure the folks who live on the New River (We were there for the big one ~ fired up my latent activist principles.) or next to an industrial hog farm and have a house covered in sh*t when they spray poopie on the fields...
...wish North Carolina officials weren't quite so beholden to Boss Hog and his big money.
...Between 1995 and the end of 1998, livestock feedlots polluted North Carolina's rivers, lakes, or coastal waters at least 300 times. Another 325 spills or other pollution problems occurred that did not, or can't be proven to have, reached waterways. An addition, inspections found evidence of past discharges at 528 of these livestock feedlots.14
...
In June of 1995 a 25 million gallon spill from a manure lagoon at Oceanview Farms in Onslow County polluted 20 miles of the New River and killed as many as ten million fish.16

An inspection in August 1995 at a 6,600 head swine feedlot found a submerged drain inside a lagoon. The drain sent manure and wastewater into Cypress Creek in Duplin County.17


The place sucks, but mention it and the bubbas who have in excess of 100,000 hogs on EACH of their 10, 15 or 20 'farms' start screaming about "family farmers" being under attack. Here in the Sunshine State, we took a LOT of heat for our "Pregnant Pig Constitutional Amendment" ~ porcine jokes aplenty ~ BUT, having lived in N.C. through the spills and having my car spray coated with pig sh*t if the wind switched, I thought it sounded fine.
...In addition to eliminating unnecessary suffering, the amendment holds out another benefit for the state of Florida. Because factory hog farms use gestation crates to maximize their profits, they would be discouraged from moving their operations here should the amendment pass [Ed.: it did], and that is a good thing. Large hog farms pose a serious threat to the environment and human health. When Hurricane Floyd hit North Carolina (where such hog farms proliferate), millions of gallons of hog waste contaminated rivers, lakes and shoreline and threatened the drinking water supply. Florida's topography makes us even more vulnerable.

However you keep them out works for me, so I ran a big old black line through the "yes" arrow on the ballot. I double and triple ran the line to make sure it counted.

And all I can say is Go Huskers!

Posted by tree hugging sister at March 13, 2008 04:29 PM

Comments

But y'all sure had some big lobsters in the Sound, Sis.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at March 13, 2008 05:45 PM

Hmmmmmm......so you're giving up those tasty baby back ribs, Sis?

Pity, as major dad's secret rub is EXCELLENT!

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at March 13, 2008 06:25 PM