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Push for rules rises as large farms decline
August 3, 2011 by The Journal Gazette
August 2, 2011, Fort
Wayne, IN – Indiana’s megafarm industry fared better this year than last, but
the number of large farming operations continues to fall, according to state
environmental officials.
August 2, 2011, Fort
Wayne, IN – Indiana’s megafarm industry fared better this year than last, but
the number of large farming operations continues to fall, according to state
environmental officials.
The break in the boom has
given environmentalists an opportunity to push for stricter regulation on what
they consider a main threat of big agriculture – manure finding its way into water
supplies.
Since last July, the state
has recorded a decrease of 57 permitted farms, known as concentrated animal
feeding operations and confined feeding operations, according to the Indiana
Department of Environmental Management.
That leaves Indiana with
1,994 operations as of July 1, an overall drop of 217 farms over the past four
years, IDEM said.
