Video

Ironically, a lost battle against a hog factory planted the seeds for a sustainable farm

In "Dispatches From the Fields," Ariane Lotti and Stephanie Ogburn, who are working on small farms in Iowa and Colorado this season, share their thoughts on producing real food in the midst of America's agro-industrial landscape.

-----

One Step at a Time Gardens is a model of agricultural sustainability. Over 50 varieties of vegetables grow in rotation on six acres of fine Iowa topsoil that receive no synthetic chemicals. Compost, cover crops, and chicken manure feed the soil. Pests and weeds are kept at bay through the use of physical barriers, biological products, and cultivation. The crew is made up of members from the community and a couple of non-local folks, such as myself. The farm provides produce to supply a local food system.

Yet when the wind blows from the northwest over One Step at a Time Gardens just east of the town of Kanawha, Iowa, visions of agricultural sustainability quickly fade as the sweet stench of pig manure from the local Confined Animal Feeding Operation or hog confinement, as they say around here, envelops the farm. The Kanawha CAFO consists of five buildings that can each house up to 2,500 hogs. Behind the buildings lies the lagoon, the source of the stench, where all of the manure and waste (dead hogs) are dumped.

Factory hog farming now dominates certain counties in Iowa, the nation's number-one hog-producing state. But it wasn't always so. The practice didn't really take off until the mid-1990s, when state law governing CAFOs changed. The Kanawha CAFO played a significant role in that change -- and Jan Libbey and Tim Landgraf, who now run One Step at a Time Gardens but then worked as a county naturalist and a metallurgical engineer, respectively, battled the Kanawha CAFO from the start. The fight against the CAFO is what inspired them to start their farm in the first place.

The Hilton energy policy

‘They take pride in being ignorant’

Obama smacks back against GOP “tire gauge” mockery:

McCain to visit nuclear power plant with dismal safety record

After stopping at a biker rally in South Dakota this morning, John McCain is headed to Monroe, Mich., this afternoon, where he’ll visit the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station. While at the power plant, he’s expected to talk up his plan to build 45 new nuclear plants by 2030, and 55 more after that. During […]

Republicans continue shenanigans in the Capitol

As Grist reported, Republicans miffed about Congress going on August recess without a vote on offshore drilling started a sit-in in the Capitol on Friday. The shenanigans continued until police escorted the tourists out of the chamber at 4:30 p.m., and GOP lawmakers went home for the night. “Today is the 2008 version of the […]

All about water?

ZapRoot takes on the Pickens plan:

Eric Roston on Colbert

Eric Roston, author of The Carbon Age: How Life’s Core Element Has Become Civilization’s Greatest Threat, tells Stephen Colbert all about his favorite element:

Obama releases new ad blasting’s McCain’s ties to oil industry

The campaign 2008 energy ad wars continue, delving deeper into negative territory. Today, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama released a new television ad accusing GOP rival John McCain of being in the pocket of Big Oil. The ad highlights the astronomical profits that oil companies have recently reported, and the roughly $2 million in campaign […]

The jig is up

Mainstream news is catching on to Big Oil greenwashing: