Lynn Henning won a Goldman Environmental Prize
Credit: Tom Dusenbery
Lynn Henning is a family farmer in rural Michigan, and surrounding her farm are 12 CAFOs, concentrated animal feeding operations. Henning calls them animal factories, and it's not far from the truth.
CAFOs are intensely harsh on both the animals being raised within their confines, and on the surrounding environment. After her community members started getting sick from the gasses and water pollution caused by the factory farms, Henning and her husband began tracking the environmental violations, which number over 1,000 in just a few years. Through her advocacy and determination, she has gotten the attention of the federal EPA and regulators and, for the first time ever in Michigan, a CAFO was denied a permit to set up shop. Her diligence is paying off for everyone, and this week her work was recognized with a Goldman Environmental Prize.
As she stated during her acceptance speech, family farmers have been sustainably feeding this country for generations, and we have to return to that more localized, environmentally friendly way of raising food.
Luckily, our culture is becoming more savvy about the problems with factory farming. After the Omnivore's Dilemma was published, and Food Inc hit movie theaters, mainstream America is seeing factory farming for what it is, and more people are resolving to support sustainable farming practices, turning to farmers markets and community sustained agriculture operations - CSAs - for their meals. Even colleges are taking note, with Green Mountain College introducing and intensive Sustainable Agriculture Major.
