Friday, August 24, 2012

Huge Dairy Threatens Pristine Land, Water Near Wisconsin Rapids

The battle in Wisconsin over large dairies and their neighbors is coming to a head in the Town of Saratoga, near Wisconsin Rapids, where woodlands atop unusually clean groundwater and near trout streams could be compromised by the construction of a massive dairy operation.

The permitting is in the hands of the state.

Details, here.

More, later.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I am more of a city-oriented person, I have spent some time on farms. I whole-heartedly repect the idea of the family farm and all the work they do. Often they are unable to receive a parity level of income.
Large corporate farms are designed to destroy the family farm.
While I love cows, they also produce a large amount of feces. This poop has to be contained, so it doesn't get into the groundwater, streams and lakes.
What's the family farmer to do, with limited financial resources competing against corporations with big resources?
And there's evidence that the corporate farm does poorly in containing the water polluter.
Help the family farmer!

Anonymous said...

Family farms are usually not large enough to cause serious water problems. That is why you see them everywhere in Europe, right by perfectly clean streams.

What needs to happen is for the DNR starting to give a flying fuck about water quality. Especially keeping nitrates out of the water, to avoid Wisconsin infants coming down with Blue Baby Syndrome.