House Bill 589

I know I should stay out of politics, but I am a lot like a moth to a flame - I know I will be torched, but I am just drawn to it, especially when it has to do with farm legislation. Recently a bill has been passed in the house of representatives in Iowa that will make it a felony to videotape any farms without the farmer's permission. House Bill 589. This I find very disturbing. I know it is their farm and they should have privacy to farm as they see fit, but at the same time they are raising food that people will be eating and we, too, should have some right to know how those animals are raised and handled. Farming has gone from being about small family farms to an industrial machine and I find it frightening that the consumers have no knowledge of what goes on behind those closed CAFO doors. The argument, of course, is that if you "see" something you are to report it to the proper authorities. Good luck with that. First of all, you can't "see" what goes on inside those confinement units - you can't see if the air is so polluted that the animals can hardly breathe, you can't tell if the animals are too crowded and therefore over stressed, you can't see if they are periodically beaten about by handlers. There is no transparency to a CAFO building. Second of all, who are the "proper" authorities? As a veterinarian I have come across instances of needing to report abuse and it can get a little dicey trying to figure out who to contact that will actually see that something is done - unless you get media on board and then enough people get angry and the "authorities" are then forced into having to actually do something about a case. There is just not a lot of accountability for some of these farmers. Dairy farmers are probably monitored the best. Their bulk tank where all the milk goes gets checked each time the trucks come from the dairy to collect the milk and if there are any illegal antibiotics in the milk, or the cell counts are too high, there are repercussions. We have no similar system in hog, chicken or turkey confinements, or in the production of beef steers. Maybe there should be a law requiring a camera placed in every confinement unit that are uploaded to a web site.....if we monitored our food like we monitor the eagles in Decorah, the entire food system might be vastly different. The biggest thing that worries me is, what are they trying to hide? Clearly, to go through all the work and effort to make a bill that will make it a felony to photograph or videotape animals that may be abused or neglected.....what are they afraid of? That they will be caught? I just don't think it is worth the time and money to pass this legislation. I think that if farmers are worried that they will be videotaped and exposed for animal neglect and cruelty, then maybe they should rethink how they are doing business. And for the consumers, I think that they should take legislation like this to heart and know that the farmers in these states apparently have something that they want to hide.....I, personally, would not want food from those farmers. It comes back around again to "know your farmer". Anyone wondering what kind of food I grow or how my animals are treated....they are welcome to come out and visit any time and I will be happy to give a tour and let you take pictures - that is what I would want from a farmer if I was buying food from them, and yet most of the country goes out to eat or cooks food at home without the foggiest notion of where their food came from or how it was treated. Needless to say, I have called my state senator and let him know my thoughts on the issue in the hopes that this bill can be killed in the senate. I would encourage everyone else in Iowa to do the same if you care at all about the food you eat. It just doesn't seem to be a bill that is worth while - it decreases the transparency of the food system rather than increasing it and while I can see the farmer's point behind wanting some privacy, I cannot account for their wanting to hide whatever monstrosities they may be committing and if they truly fear being photographed or videotaped, they need to reconsider what they are doing. The fear of media attention is the only check and balance that we have for many of these farms at this point.