Decades of industrialized farming, pressure from chemical manufacturers and federal farm policy have left many producers relying heavily on pesticides.
A dozen grassroots organizations have challenged a USDA rule change that would make medium-sized animal confinements exempt from environmental review before receiving government-backed loans from the Farm Services Agency.
A major environmental threat has emerged as factory farms take over more and more of the nation’s livestock production: Pollution from the waste produced by the immense crush of animals. Iowa has more of the massive livestock feeding lots, known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, t
Livestock industry groups applauded the Environmental Protection Agency’s retreat last year from establishing an information-gathering rule.
Michael Formica, of the National Pork Producers’ Council, said the rule simply
