6.8 million farm animals have died in barn fires in the last 10 years. Animal welfare advocates have called for stronger fire safety rules, but Big Meat fears financial losses.
In recent years, the German conglomerate has shifted costs to local labor contractors and increased its reliance on foreign labor in Nebraska. The safety costs are the latest in a series of changes Bayer has forced on local contractors’ business model.
Programs that provide drought relief to farmers use the U.S. Drought Monitor to determine eligibility, but some experts say it doesn’t always capture local conditions.
But the consolidation of the sector makes it increasingly hard for organizers to push for drinking water regulation. According to experts, local actions need to be paired with more federal regulation to properly address the drinking water nitrate pollution.
Corn is used in everything from potato chips to jet fuel. A major industry player that processes the raw material has relied on a labor contractor, T. Bell Detasseling, that has violated multiple federal labor laws over more than a decade.
