Tama County Residents Close To Stopping Rastetter Factory Farm

Tama County votes 3-0 to recommend that the DNR deny a construction permit for a giant factory farm owned by Iowa Regent President Bruce Rastetter

On June 10, the Tama County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to recommend that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) deny a giant factory farm proposed by Iowa Board of Regents president Bruce Rastetter’s corporation, Summit Farms, outside of Lincoln, Iowa.  If built, the factory farm would house 4,400 hogs and produce 1.1 million gallons of manure annually.

Neighborhood opposition to the site was led by local members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI), a statewide citizen action group that uses community organizing as a strategy to build grassroots power and win public policy that puts communities before corporations and people before profits, politics, and polluters.

The DNR now has 30 days to approve or reject the county’s recommendation.  If the DNR rejects the county’s position, Tama county may appeal the decision to the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC).  Bruce Rastetter's brother, Brent Rastetter, serves on the EPC and owns a construction firm that was contracted to build this facility.Over 100 of the 162 local residents of Lincoln have signed a petition opposing Rastetter’s proposal.

“Today Tama county stood on the side of people from my neighborhood and said no to factory farm pollution destroying our air, water, and quality of life,” said Dave McGowan, a CCI member from Gladbrook, one of the closest residents to the proposed factory farm.  “We call on DNR Director Chuck Gipp to put people first and deny the permit for this site.”

A Summit Farms representative testified during a county supervisors meeting that the hogs for the proposed factory farm would be owned by Smithfield, a giant meatpacker that has made international news in recent days after a Chinese corporation offered to buy the company.