CAFO | Iowa Public Radio

CAFO

Tubular mushrooms with dark caps sprout out of plastic bags on a shelf.

Madeleine Charis King

Iowa Public Radio

Why one Iowa family made the leap from pigs to mushrooms

Rachel Cramer

A family farm in central Iowa recently transitioned their industrial hog operation to grow something else — specialty mushrooms. They say it’s better for them and the environment, and with help from a nonprofit, they hope to inspire other farmers.

Concentrated animal feeding operations hold thousands of heads of livestock, such as hogs, cattle or poultry which produce gallons of waste.

United Soybean Board

Harvest Public Media

Midwest states court indoor hog and poultry production, despite the millions of gallons of manure

Eva Tesfaye

Jeffery lays in the hay on Friday, March, 19, 2021, in Chillicothe, Mo. He has what owner Andrew Geiser calls a mule foot, solid like a horses, which is a rare hog breed in the U.S. Geiser believes in what he calls "being a steward of the land. I was taught to leave things better than you found them," he said.

Danielle Pycior/Missourian/Danielle Pycior

Columbia Missourian

Iowa News

Scaling Up: Production contracts more common in North Carolina than Midwestern pork states

Madison McVan

Environment

Iowa environmental groups say draft CAFO rules don't do enough to protect environment

Katie Peikes

More than a dozen Iowa environmental groups are calling on the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to more strongly regulate animal confinements and feedlots.
Agriculture

Scaling Up: The weighty impact of hog farming’s evolution?

Madison McVan

The number of large hog operations increased while small farms disappeared in recent decades.
Iowa News

PETA Buys Billboard Ad In Wright County

A new billboard with the message “Meat Kills, Go Vegan” will appear on Highway 17 in Wright County. The roadside message, which also lists health risks…