Cedar Rapids Representative Is Trying For An Ag Ban Again

Once again, Democrat State Representative Art Staed of Cedar Rapids is trying to pass legislation that would establish a moratorium on expanding factory farming in Iowa. He spoke with reports on Monday about the bill.

My bill will help stymie corporate ag's predatory growth in our state, confront our water quality crisis, and rectify the unfair treatment of contract growers.

This is the fifth year Iowa legislators have been advocating to try to get this bill passed. With the House being controlled by Republicans, Staed says it won’t be easy.

In the House, they've ignored this in the past. We'll see what happens this year. We've had difficulty getting any Republican signatures to be honest -- but we do have quite a few House members who are interested in it.

The bill comes as a push by the Democrats in response to public support and urgent environmental hazards that come from factory farming. He says factory farms go through unchecked expansions which are destroying drinking water, rural communities, and family farms in the state. Staed would just like to see the House have a hearing about it.

There are legislators in both parties who are very interested in doing something about this, taking action. For whatever reason aren't willing to come forward at this time until they see greater movement or at least a subcommittee hearing where we can have the public involved and others come and speak.

According to Staed there are more than ten thousand factory farms in Iowa and about 300-500 facilities are added each year.