Proposed Prestage hog processing plant.
A spokesperson for the group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI) says they are disappointed with the decision Monday by the Wright County Board of Supervisors to give the go ahead for the Prestage Foods pork processing plant south of Eagle Grove.
ICCI’s Erica Blair made her comments after the supervisors approved the development agreement and urban renewal plan for the plant. “We know that this plant — which is going to kill 20,000 hogs a day — is going to mean more factory farms in this areas. Wright County is already very saturated with factory farms. This is not a model of agriculture that we support, we support agriculture that doesn’t pollute our water, doesn’t pollute our air, that keeps our soil on the ground,” Blair says.
Blair said her group will not give up. “We are going to continue fighting for family farmers and trying to stop the factory farming industry,” Blair says. “So what we are calling for in the state of Iowa is a moratorium on new and expanding factory farms. It is really clear that we can’t handle any more of this factory farm pollution. We have 725 impaired waterways, we have 22 billion gallons of liquid manure every year, and this is causing a water quality crisis.”
The Prestage plant must now get all the required state permits and could start construction by October.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)