EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Four, Number Three January/February 1995 CORPORATE HOG FARMING: A CHALLENGE TO FAITH COMMUNITIES In late November an ecumenical group of 130 rural pastors and lay persons from Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri met in Des Moines to learn what the churches could do to address the divisive issue of factory hog farming in rural communities of the Midwest, Plains states and the South. The Church Land Project of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and PrairieFire Rural Action sponsored the one day conference entitled Community, Church, and Large-scale Hog Production; Theology and Resolution of Hog Production Conflicts. Many rural communities, in an effort to improve their economic base, are pursuing large-scale corporate hog producers. The corporation, in return for feeder pigs, feed, veterinary services and stable market prices, contracts with local farmers to build and maintain confinement facilities, and care for several thousand animals according to corporation guidelines. This puts independent local producers at an economic disadvantage, may cause serious groundwater and air pollution, and has an adverse effect on community life. The church is one of the few organizations in small towns available to assist residents to reflect and act on these issues, if it chooses to take the opportunity. Conference participants analyzed present trends in the industry, learned methods of conflict resolution and related their faith teachings to the issues. For more information write Church Land Project, 4625 Beaver Ave., Des Moines IA 50310-2199; 515/270-2634. Also Land Stewardship Project, 14758 Ostlund Trail N., Marine MN 55047; 612/433-2770. Home     Table of Contents