“Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, argues that the economic benefits attributed to the massive scale of confined animal feeding operations are mostly illusory. Because of CAFOs’ Himalayan accumulations of cow feces, the limited land around confined-animal feeding operations can’t absorb and use all the nutrients in the waste. So the waste runs off or evaporates, polluting the water and air, poisoning people, killing fish, and driving down the values of nearby properties. CAFOs destroy good agricultural jobs, raise health care costs, and eviscerate agricultural communities. This destruction has a real dollar value. Gurian-Sherman calculated some of the hidden but real annual costs of CAFOs.
• Reduction in property values $26 billion
• Cleaning up soil damaged by leakage from manure-storage facilities
$4.1 billion
• Cost to distribute and apply manure to fields $1.6 billion
• Public health costs from overuse of antibiotics $1.5 to 3 billion”
(extract from “Cowed: The Hidden Impact of 93 Million Cows on America’s Health, Economy, Politics, Culture, and Environment by Denis Hayes and Gail Boyer Hayes)
Report: CAFOs Uncovered: The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations
Published: April 1, 2008
Publisher: Union of Concerned Scientists
Available here
About the author Doug Gurian-Sherman:
My work emphasizes the importance of agroecological farming systems to address the challenges of growing food that enhances and relies on biological diversity, builds resilience, is good for the environment, and promotes food justice and sovereignty. Specific issues that are a focus of my work are agroecological approaches to climate change, ecological alternatives to pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, landscape level analysis, and analysis of lock-in to dysfunctional industrial agriculture.
As an agricultural scientist trained in molecular biology, I can contrast the strengths and weaknesses of different agricultural systems and methods for achieving social goals. I appreciate that social and political context inevitably influences the value of technologies to society. So it is important to analyze farming methods and technologies as parts of social systems, as well as based on their physical risks and benefits.
Much of my work involves comparison of farming methods and technologies in the context of whether they achieve the goals described above. My objectives are to help change policies and to support civil society and social movements to further these goals. I am committed to working toward fundamental social change, rather than tweaking the current production and international trade of commodity crops that has little regard for impacts on the environment and most people, especially small- and medium scale farmers, farm workers and food chain workers.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-gurian-sherman-143a5519/
At the time of writing the report:
Senior Scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists
Dates Employed: Nov 2006 – Jun 2014
Employment Duration: 7 yrs 8 mos
Location: Washington D.C. Metro Area
Research on agricultural science and sustainability including CAFOs, livestock and climate, genetic engineering, agroecology, and pesticides. Extensive work with media, including major news sources, and on agriculture policy.
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Facebook anti-CAFO group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2691878254468402
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