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Factory Farms Explained

Modern Farmer

Concentrated animal feeding operations CAFOs are defined by the EPA as intensive feeding operations where many animals are confined and fed for at least 45 days per year (though it can be much more) and inevitably their manure and waste come in contact with ground and surface water. A large CAFO is at least 1,000 “animal units.”An

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Lawsuit Aims to Loosen CAFO Waste Restrictions in Wisconsin. Even Farmers Are Alarmed.

Daily Yonder

Currently, CAFOs in Wisconsin must obtain a Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit before disposing of manure and waste. To be classified as a CAFO, an operation must have at least 1,000 animal units (700 milking cows, 1,000 beef cattle, 2,500 pigs, 55,000 turkeys, 82,000 laying hens, or 125,000 chickens). “I

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The Iowa Trout Stream at the Center of a Feedlot Fight

Civil Eats

The idea, the manager explained, was that Supreme Beef would run a feedlot, and Feeder Creek would supply a biodigester, a machine that would process manure and capture the resulting methane to be sold as energy. We need at least 10,000 cows to get enough manure for the amount of methane we want to generate,’” Stone said.

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Wisconsin Towns Are Trying to Limit CAFO Growth. Big Dairy Is Fighting Back

Daily Yonder

A few days after moving in, concerned neighbors informed her that Ledgeview Farms, a large dairy farm behind her home, was planning to expand, which included building a manure pit to store millions of gallons of waste next to the subdivision. Over the next several years, Porter began noticing manure runoff in the creek her kids would play in.

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Virginia Tech Receives Record $80m Towards Climate-Smart Farming

World Agri-Tech

The pilot program will pay producers $100 per acre or animal unit for voluntary adoption of climate-smart practices that deliver more than that amount in public environmental benefits. According to Thompson, the credit for the pilot concept belongs to RIPE (Rural Investment to Protect our Environment).

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