Although it is very true that GHG’s are not the only pollutant coming from livestock facilities, when a scientist is asked to present at a meeting, they are asked to speak in a very specific area. Just because not all sources of pollution were discussed, does not mean that the scientists do not recognize that there are other sources, however, given the time constraints of meeting/conference platforms the issue has to be narrow and focused. This paper properly represented the scope of their topic.

The area I am an expert in is animal waste. I have researched and educated livestock producers in animal waste issues for many years. I’m not sure what farms you have been around but most of the odor from confined animal feeding operations come from the animal production area not the lagoons. Lagoons are a manure treatment system which should form a layer of bacteria on the surface that serves as a barrier (biofilter is you will) to gasses. There are gasses that come from lagoons such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide that are considered hazardous however, in lagoon systems they are not emitted at high enough concentrations to be harmful. Now, there can be problem in swine operations that have deep pit systems where people have been killed because of hydrogen sulfide but not outdoor ventilated lagoon systems. If lagoons were harmful to humans every confinement dairy and swine producer would be sick or dead. And of course there are odors that result from animal production facilities but not any worse and in my opinion not as bad as municipal waste water treatment facilities. Everything’s poop stinks, period. I have been to grazing dairies that smelled just as bad as confinement dairies. Lagoons are NOT PRONE to over-flows and leaks. They are specifically designed to hold the volume of waste produce and have additional storage for 25y/24h storm event. Do over-flows occur? yes but “prone to” seems to indicate that this happens frequently which is simply not true, and this is coming from someone who has been of hundreds of farms. Also, most lagoons are designed according to NRCS standards with and engineered liner and leaks can happen but again it is not common. Also, most larger facilities are required to do ground water monitoring to ensure the lagoons are not leaking. Catastrophic collapses do occur but most I know about have been during natural disasters such as hurricanes and I guarantee the local municipal treatment facilities also failed at the same time. Simply because a farm does not have a lagoon system, does not mean they do not have an environmental impact. Animals on pasture still dedicate and urinate and runoff from the fields carry nutrients and pathogens, just the same as pasture that has had lagoon waste applied to it. One advantage to having manure storage is that you have control over when the nutrients are land applied and can time application around times of saturated soil conditions and heavy rain fall. With a grazing system there are always fresh manure on the ground.
BST – people talk about BST as if it is a deadly chemical that is going to kill us all. BST is a hormone naturally produced by dairy cows that they found would increase production if the cows were supplemented with additional concentrations. Almost all dairies have stop the use of BST however, it’s not a deadly chemical as some people seem to believe. On the topic of hormones, just like humans animals produce hormones naturally, so all animal manures have hormones. Many people think supplemental hormones are feed to chickens and pigs and that is simply not true, in fact, it is illegal to do so and has been for at least the past 10 years. Tyson used the whole “hormone free” campaign a few years ago but the truth is they didn’t change anything because they weren’t feed hormones to begin with. On the issue of antibiotics, unless labeled certified organic, almost all livestock producers use antibiotics, now the smaller producers will just use antibiotics on sick animals but still antibiotics are used (which would be very inhumane if animals weren’t treated for illness). And yes sub-therapeutic antibiotics are used poultry and swine but it prevents illness and mortality. It is typically used during time of stress like during weaning, or diet change not constantly. And in many cases they are not the same antibiotics used in humans. Lets’ think about antibiotic resistance for just a moment, how many parents take their kids to the Dr for a cold and get a prescription for antibiotics when there isn’t a bacterial infection? I worked in a pharmacy for several years so I know a little about this too. And we all know how difficult it is to get some kids to take medicine so when they get to feeling better, the antibiotics are stopped before the full treatment is completed. So human over-use and mis-use of antibiotics have more of a part to play in the whole antibiotic resistance problem than anything else. Heavy metals – animals are feed vitamins and minerals to stay healthy just like humans. Take a look at your multi-vitamin label, you’ll see copper, zinc, selenium, chromium, manganese – these are all metals. Forages contain metals, grains contain metals, and all good livestock producers feed vitamins and minerals to their animals. All animal manures are going to contain metals.

Terminology- “traditional” and “sustainable” farms. The poultry farmer with a broiler farm that has been in his family for 3 generations, would say that he is a traditional farmer. Many of our farming practices on larger farms are very sustainable, like implementing BMPs, using nutrient management plans, production of biogas, using recycled bedding materials. Terminology is critical when talking about these issues. If you mean small farms or organic farms use those terms. If you mean large farms, or confined animal feeding operations use those terms. Organic is not the same thing as sustainable. Small is not the same thing as traditional. And the term factory farming in 90% of livestock industry is simply a misrepresentation of the truth. Most livestock operations are owned and ran by families who work very hard to produce food for the world.

One final comment, I am a big supporter of locally grown food and frequent farmers markets. And there is definitely a need for food to supply that market. However, it is essential to be able to produce a safe, cheap food supply, and large scale farming has evolved over the past 50 years to meet the food demand for an every expanding population. So while there is a place for locally grown, organic food production, it is impossible to produce enough food in that manner to feed the world. And while there are exceptions to the rule, CAFO’s farmers are great environmental stewards and do everything they can to produce food in a sustainable manner.