To the editor:
When pigs fly: that’s when we, who have decried the explosion of livestock confinements (CAFOs) across Iowa, thought we would see the likes of Rep. David Johnson emerge from the state legislature.
Finally, an elected official with the integrity to publicly acknowledge the negative impacts of the industry and the political corruption that sustains it, the courage to stand against Farm Bureau and their puppets in the legislature, and the resolve to put forward legislation to address the CAFO menace.
Over the last 30 years, legislators have ignored or flat out dismissed residents’ concerns and suffering, or they have offered anemic support then flimsy excuses for inaction.
Rep. Johnson has broken with the characteristic indifference and ineptitude we have come to expect from our legislators on this issue. He has put himself at great political risk. He needs your support.
Contact your state legislators, and ask them to support Sen. Johnson’s legislation. He is sponsoring 15 bills to strengthen the regulation of CAFOs, including a revision of the inadequate Master Matrix and a moratorium on new construction until Iowa has fewer than 100 impaired waterways.
His bills are part of a clarion call for reform, an effort to take our state back from the corporate livestock interests which have blighted the countryside, damaged our environment and quality of life and turned our politicians into lackeys.
Congratulations, rural Iowa, you finally have a statesman and a champion. David Johnson is a man who is telling it like it is and putting the people and our environment ahead of moneyed special interests.
Don’t squander this rare opportunity and leave him out in the cold, or the next pigs you encounter may well be thousands of Iowa Select or JBS hogs warehoused a stone’s throw from your front door.
Stacy Hartmann, Minburn
Dallas County Farmers and Neighbors
