For immediate release: July
18, 2007
For more information contact:
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement at 515-282-0484; iowacci@iowacci.org
West Des
Moines, IA - On Saturday, July 14th, over 150
members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) from
across the state visited the West Des Moines home of Aaron Putze,
Executive Director of the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers
(CSIF). Members of CCI sent
a strong message that Iowans do not want factory farms. “We
want clean air, clean water, family farms, and a decent quality
of life, NOT factory farms,” said CCI member Barb Kalbach,
a 4th generation family farmer from Adair County.
CCI targeted CSIF because of its
role in promoting factory farms. CSIF
is an organization backed by the biggest factory farm supporters
including Farm Bureau, Iowa Pork Producers Association, and other
commodity producer groups.
Iowa CCI members, including a number
of family farmers, challenged the message CSIF is sending to
Iowans. CCI member and independent
hog farmer Virgene Martin said, “CSIF wants us to think that
those who fight against factory farms are extremists and against
livestock agriculture. We all support independent livestock
producers. Many of us are livestock producers. But
we don’t want CSIF to bring corporate backed factory farms
to our communities.”
While at Putze’s home, CCI members presented their “Bad
Neighbor Award” to CSIF for CSIF’s role in pushing
factory farms on Iowa and attacking everyday Iowans and groups
who stand up and speak out against factory farms.
CCI members were united in telling Aaron Putze and CSIF that all
Iowans are threatened by the effects of factory farms, whether
one lives in the country or the city, because we all drink the
water and breathe the air.
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
is a 32-year old organization with thousands of members across
the state from all walks of life who talk, act and get things
done on critical issues affecting all Iowans. CCI members recognize the power of uniting
and standing up for what’s right. For more information,
visit www.iowacci.org.
###
Check out letters printed in the 7/31/07 Des Moines Regsiter.
The following letters to the editor
have been submitted to Iowa papers:
From Vern Tigges:
7/17/07
Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to the 7/17
editorial, “When turnabout
is not fair play.” I was with other Iowa CCI members
when we protested at the house of Aaron Putze, the head of CSIF – a
pro-factory farm coalition. Many of us have to live every
day with the foul stench of factory farms. They devalue our
property and ruin our quality of life.
Everyone in this state has to live with the dirty water that results
from corporate livestock production. We left Putze’s
house when we were asked to do so. But the thousands of hogs
and their tens of thousands of gallons of manure surrounding my
property never leave.
CSIF is the top promoter of factory
farms in the state. They
try to convince us that factory farms are good neighbors. But
good neighbors don’t pollute our air and water, harm public
health, lower property values, and destroy our quality of life. Thousands
of people around the state are impacted by the devastation caused
by factory farms. But CSIF attacks family farmers and everyday
Iowans who stand up and speak out against them.
CCI members will continue to expose
the truth about factory farms, even when that’s not popular. Our country was founded
by people that were not afraid to stand up and cast tea into the
Boston harbor, protest for women’s suffrage, and conduct
sit-ins and freedom rides for civil rights. CCI is proud
to join their ranks in the fight for environmental, economic, and
social justice.
Sincerely,
Vern Tigges
Carroll, Iowa
From Shirley Rayl:
7/18/07
Dear Editor,
A year ago, we found out that
a neighbor had sold 5 acres of his farm to a large corporation
so they could build a 4800-head hog confinement one mile from us. We
worked most of the past year to try to prevent this corporation
from coming into our neighborhood but the corporation is still
planning to build. This
is happening too often in our present times – and I fear
it will only get worse. The only way we small to mid-size
farmers can counteract this trend is to work together to make this
problem apparent to other citizens. That is why we have joined
the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, members of whom try
to keep our communities a safe and healthy place to live.
People like Aaron Putze, who publicizes
CSIF and is backed by the Iowa Farm Bureau, Iowa Pork Producers
Association and other powerful farm groups, work to help the
large corporations become larger. The
Register criticized CCI for disturbing Putze in his home for a
few minutes, but the stench from factory farms affecting OUR homes,
OUR children, and OUR personal lives year-round is the most important
reason we protested.
Sincerely,
Shirley Rayl, Bridgewater
From Cheryl Aggen:
7/18/07
Dear Editor,
I am an activist. That's the label
assigned to me by the CSIF, the mouthpiece of Iowa Farm Bureau,
corporate agribusiness, and several agriculture associations.
Does that label fully describe me? No. I am a rural Cass County
resident and a farmer's wife. (My farmer husband is also an activist,
along with many of our farming, livestock producing neighbors.)
We recently participated in the demonstration against the CSIF. They are the driving
force behind the influx of hog factories and corporate farming
throughout the state. CSIF also routinely produces press
releases using half-truths, misdirection, and spin. Are we
against livestock production? No. Many of us ARE livestock producers.
Are we against corporate factory farming? Yes. Factory farming
might benefit a corporation and a few individual producers, but
from a local perspective, it's a dangerous method - both environmentally
and economically.
We activists would encourage you to read the statistics and documentation,
CSIF will not. Our state legislators have bowed to the big-money
corporate ag lobbyists (Farm Bureau, etc.). Iowa legislators continue
to propose and maximize corporate ag protections and benefits while
minimizing the same for individuals. Until Iowa stands up to protect
us, my activist neighbors and I will continue to fight, and we
encourage others to do the same.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Aggen, Anita
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