Iowa DNR approves expanded concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in rural Northeast Iowa

This week I have paid especially close attention to agricultural news from my home state, Iowa. Specifically, I heard about a new CAFO, originally proposed in 2017, finally gaining approval from Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources.

Supreme Beef’s operation resides in the small town of Monona, Iowa, whose population was only 1,635 in 2019. The facility is owned and managed by one family in Clayton County, the Walz’s. The eventual capacity of the CAFO will be massive, feeding over 11,000 cows when it fully opens.

Back in 2017, the project was proposed as a natural gas operation that would convert manure into “energy”. The CAFO attempted to combine traditional Iowan agriculture and progressive renewable energy. Locals were weary. Tammy Thompson, mom of two, feared chemical leaks into local wells.

I feel like it’s just a waiting game…We’re waiting until something bad happens.

Now, nearly four years later, the CAFO is open with a few thousand cows and will soon quintuple in size. Since its inception, environmental activists in the Iowa Sierra Club (ISP) have expressed concern about the CAFO’s proposed location. The operation sits near the top of Bloody Run Creek, which has been identified by IDNR as one of Iowa’s few ‘Outstanding Iowa Waters’. These waters are classified by IDNR as: “an outstanding state resource water in the water quality standards.”

Also concerning to the ISP is the farms manure management plan. The local karst geology is porous and vulnerable to manure seeping into groundwater below. Many of Iowa's best trout are in the Bloody Run Creek area, and Supreme Beef's manure management practices put those natural resources at risk. The facility was required to get a nutrient management plan (NMP) approved from the IDNR. Agency rules require public notice of the NMP for CAFOs and response to public comments.

The IDNR responses to comments were brief. Tammy Thompson submitted comments, asking:

…the NMP is not clear on the handling and store of manure in the lagoon…How will they control the smell? A lagoon full of 30 million gallons of manure will be overwhelmingly odorous, causing neighbors to be unable to enjoy the outdoors.

In response, the IDNR referenced the NMP without addressing her concerns about smell and its impacts on local residents. However, public opposition was able to delay the operation. The first NMP was so unpopular that the IDNR approved the facility under a reduced capacity of 2,700 cows, which the CAFO currently houses. The smaller facility is estimated to generate seven million gallons of manure per year.

The second NMP, and current expansion of the CAFO is an open feedlot and is no longer claimed to be a waste-to-energy operation. Supreme Beef's plan does not explain how the manure will be stored  or handled and does not account for the erodible nature of the topography of forty-two of the forty-five manure application fields. 

Interestingly, the majority of the articles I found that examined opposition to the Supreme Beef plant highlighted advocacy on degradation of nearby environmental resources. Few of the articles discussed advocacy on behalf of rural residents and farmers fearing the impact the CAFO would bring to their community. 

This reminded me of Professor Pruitt and Linda Sobczynski’s discussion of the conservationist lens of environmental litigation in their article I read this week, Protecting people, protecting places: What environmental litigation conceals and reveals about rurality. Professor Pruitt discussed a Newton County, Arkansas CAFO in that article and on the blog extensively and here.

It is no surprise that the Iowa DNR approved a management plan lacking details for manure and anti-degradation. The state has a long pattern of deciding in favor of industrialized agriculture. This industrialized agriculture is going to arrive in Monona whether residents like it or not. However, I hope that future advocates account for the rural perspective in their opposition to the siting of CAFOs to show a more complete picture of who is impacted by these industries.